A/N: This was an old tumblr prompt that deserved to see the light of day again.

"I know you hate this," Seto said, "but start again."

Yugi's shoulders slumped. "Must we?" he whined.

They stood in one of Seto's virtual labs, a program running to simulate a massive stadium, and the two of them stood in the center of the field. The stands were completely empty, and it was just the two of them. And it seemed like it had been hours since they walked inside.

Seto crossed his arms. "You were the one who wanted to do this, not me."

Yugi sighed. A Duel Monsters event like no other. Whoever put it into Pegasus's head that an Olympic-style tournament, drawing duelists and fans from all over the world to a single space, and volunteer him to make the opening speech was a good idea was definitely not his friend.

"I know," said Yugi. "I…this doesn't come easy to me."

Seto rolled his eyes. "I would have thought," he began, his voice flat, "…that after having him in your head, taking the spotlight like the drama king that he was, you would have picked up some of that showmanship."

Yugi pulled a face. "Oh, really? Who was it jumping out of planes with jetpacks and creating virtual colosseums to duel in? I think you are referring to the wrong person, Kaiba."

Seto snorted. "Fine. Getting stuck alongside you while you played hero day in and out should have given you some of that charisma."

"Well it didn't," said Yugi miserably, "You remember your Grand Prix Tournament? You and Mokuba completely put me on the spot."

"Yeah," Seto said, unimpressed. "And this isn't spontaneous. You know you have to speak. Therefore you have time to prepare."

"It's going to be in front of a lot of people…."

"You are a champion duelist, Yugi," said Seto, "Are you going to be this pathetic on the field?"

"Dueling is different!" Yugi shot back, "I was never good at public speaking!"

"Which is why we're here," said Seto stiffly, gesturing around him. "I cleared my day for this. We're not leaving here unless you make some progress."

Yugi wrinkled his nose at him. "You wouldn't rather…I don't know, be in your office ordering people around?"

"I'm ordering you around." He wasn't about to say that he jumped on the chance to clear his entire day's schedule when he found out that Pegasus was slated to be on it. For that, he would spend literally the week in this space with Yugi, without even dueling, if it meant putting off that meeting.

Especially since the man had to go off and make more Toon monsters.

"Why couldn't you give it?" Yugi asked.

"Because someone decided that the King of Games had more weight behind it," Seto said. There was no hiding the irritation in his voice at that. "Now come on, start at the top."

Yugi looked down at the paper in his hands and sighed. He had to be incredibly thankful – Kaiba even looked over and suggested slight tweaks to his words to make it sound better. But delivering the address to thousands of people?

"You gave the graduation speech," Seto reminded him, "In front of all of your peers." He didn't attend the ceremony - there was no point in it, but if Yugi could deliver that address, there was no reason why he couldn't open the next tournament.

"That was different!" Yugi said, his face hot. "I knew those people! They were my classmates! But this…there's going to be a ton of duelists! And spectators! Thousands of strangers. It's not the same!"

"Sounds like excuses to me," Seto said, and pressed the "KC" button on his white coat as he stalked off towards the door to the lab. "End simulation."

Yugi looked around wildly as the room returned to normal. "W-what are you doing?"

"I promised Mokuba I'd have lunch with him." Seto stopped at the exit and gave the barely turned his head to look back at Yugi. "Are you coming, or what?"

Yugi's eyes widened. "Y-you're letting me come with you?"

"If I wasn't going to, I wouldn't have offered," said Seto. "We'll come back to this."

"Good," Yugi breathed a sigh of relief and followed after him. He was a bit hungry. "I could use the break."

"Don't be too sure," Seto smirked, though Yugi couldn't see it. "You can practice on Mokuba."

Ah. So there was a catch. Yugi paused a moment before resigning to his fate. At least Mokuba was a friend, not a stranger. And he wouldn't judge him if he made a few goofs.

Thank goodness there was still plenty of time to nail this down.