Title: Canvas
Summary: A post-Duelist Kingdom story centered around Pegasus and his search for a way to bring Cecelia back… And the man he wants help from is the most unlikely of all. Shounen-ai of a very uncommon pairing that someone requested.
Disclaimer: Lily does not own YuGiOh. Lily is not making money off of this.
Warnings: The beautiful relationship that was progressing so slowly… It was a work of art! And now –this- happened to it… ;_;
Chapter 7: Stroke
By dinner, Pegasus had, with visible effort, pushed the feelings of helplessness and angst away, and was chatting amiably about fast food restaurants. He seemed to have a talent for making the strangest of topics interesting (though Kaiba was a bit surprised that he was talking so easily after failing to paint his beloved, and especially in front of him, of all people). Either that, or the Tylenol Croquet had thoughtfully left next to Pegasus's glass had somehow gotten him high.
Abruptly, he stopped talking about French fries, having finally exhausted that topic. Seto was slightly disappointed, as the silent meal that had been lunch was not an ordeal he would've liked to repeat. He glanced outside, rather sadly, at the snow that was still falling. He hadn't been in the castle for a day yet, but just being around Pegasus was a challenge in itself, as he had to constantly hold himself at the ready and make sure he didn't do anything incredibly stupid. It seemed like years.
"What happened to my helicopter pilot?" Kaiba finally asked. The question had occurred earlier in the day, but it had been dispelled quickly, though by what, he didn't know.
"Oh." Pegasus looked thoughtful, and then, "I have no idea. I'm sure Croquet has been taking care of him. Croquet?" He raised his voice at the last bit, and Croquet hurried in, looking a bit worn.
"Yes, Pegasus-sama?"
"Kaiba-kun was wondering where his pilot went."
"He has been playing pool with the rest of the staff whose shifts ended this morning, but had no way of getting back home," Croquet answered smoothly, as if expecting that question. Pegasus beamed at Kaiba.
~~
Sketching was a lot better than painting, anyways, Pegasus told himself, and then voiced this reassurance. After all, there were no messy paints to worry about, and there were no memories of Cecelia attached, as he had always felt compelled to use full color when depicting her beauty. That was why he was currently settled comfortably on his couch, sketchpad balanced on his knees, pencil poised and ready for inspiration. An idea was slowly coming to him. Something with harsh angles that could soften if need be… and a trench coat?
Kaiba snorted suddenly, and Pegasus blinked up at him, startled. "What? What?"
From his usual position on the next couch, Kaiba shook his head. "Nothing."
"There has to be something."
"It was amusing."
"What was amusing?" Pegasus stared at Kaiba, and then at his blank sketchbook. "I haven't even drawn anything yet."
"It wasn't your drawing, it was your facial expression."
"My… what did I look like?"
"Like you were trying to solve pi."
Pegasus started to say something, but realized Kaiba was smiling. He closed his mouth quickly, gave a smile of his own, and turned his gaze back to the paper.
Now he couldn't remember what he was thinking about.
"Now look, you've made me lose concentration."
There was no response. He quickly sketched a bald man, leaning over his desk, slender fingers pressing firmly against his temples. Pegasus stared at his work a while, toying with a strand of hair. It was easy to fidget with whatever was closest when he was trying to think. Finally, he drew a pained expression on the picture's face, then added scars, chains, erased the chair and made the guy kneel rather than sit. And then, Pegasus ripped the sheet out, tore it up, and dropped the shreds into a neat pile on the coffee table.
That done, Pegasus drew in a deep breath and sighed it back out.
"Are you always so agitated when you draw?" Seto asked dryly.
"No, only when my drawings are warped and twisted and I'm waiting for you to tell me whether or not I can see my dead wife again."
Seto laughed at that, surprising both of them. "I think I could love someone like you."
Silence. "Excuse me?"
He already wished he could take the words back, but now that they were out, he had to pretend that he had meant to say that in the first place, that he had meant to blurt out something he'd only just realized and wasn't even sure of. In fact, that was probably the stupidest thing he could ever have said! But to back down was to be wishy washy, and that was a bad idea.
"You heard what I said." Seto stood, smirking confidently. "Think on it. Good night." He left to find the room he had awoken in, and did so with minimal difficulty. Behind him, Pegasus looked like he would faint.
It was a victory for Kaiba, of course. Finally, he had been able to startle the seemingly unshakable man. And finally, he didn't care.
~~
They didn't see each other until breakfast-time, and when they did, they didn't speak of the night before. In fact, if not for Pegasus's blush and Kaiba's hastily averted gaze, they each might've thought that they'd dreamt it up.
What they did speak of was petty enough, but a good distraction from Seto's reprimands (I'm supposed to be in control! How could I have let something like that slip from my mouth?) and Pegasus's neurotic ramble (What is he thinking? Could he have been serious? But why? How? What's going on? I don't get it! What do I think of all this? I know myself well, but this…), neither of which had stopped since the two parted for sleep.
Again, after breakfast, they retreated to the perpendicular couches again, as a good, solid routine was something they could depend upon. They needed something to depend upon, especially now, while their frazzled nerves and confused emotions were… undependable.
Pegasus shifted uncomfortably every few minutes at first, but finally settled in a sprawled out position with a volume of manga[1] lying on the floor, held open with two fingers. Like all negative emotions, he pushed the unease away, instead focusing on Funny Bunny. Despite the blood rushing to his head from letting it hang too close to the floor, this position was rather comfortable.
Seto, on the other hand, wasn't having too much luck relaxing. For one, he expected at any moment for Pegasus to jump up and demand exactly what it was that Kaiba had meant last night. For another, the possible thieves were dwindling. The future looked dim for Pegasus's reuniting with his wife. Three… He sent out an email to the airport. Two… Well, that was easy. She could be ruled out immediately. One… This one hadn't even come; she'd been forced to stay home when her father fell ill. And the email was back already. Nobody that fit Kaiba's description had taken any of the stated flights.
"Pegasus?"
"Hm?" Pegasus wasn't paying attention at all. Well, at least it was nice to know that he wasn't tense, unlike the other occupant of the room.
"I think you should pay attention for this."
The addressed froze, hardly daring to breathe. Finally, he sat up, brushing loose strands of silver hair from his face, Funny Bunny in hand, like the Bible or something else from which he could draw strength. "…Yes, Kaiba-kun?"
"I… finished."
He didn't have to ask 'what with'. "…And…?"
The hope in Pegasus's eye was painful, and Kaiba briefly wondered why the sunglasses were off. And then he realized that they were probably still in the room Pegasus had been painting in, one which said artist didn't want to venture into just yet.
"And… the last of them left 40 hours before your duel with Yuugi."
Again, silence.
"…Oh." Pegasus's voice was small and a bit hesitant, as if by thinking a bit longer, perhaps he could figure out that Kaiba was talking about something different altogether. But no luck. "So… none of them could've taken the Eye."
"Right."
Again, he whispered, "oh," and again, they fell silent. Pegasus looked so crestfallen and pitiful. Something had to be done.
Seto's fingers began typing furiously, and finally he calmed, clicking buttons and typing at seemingly random intervals. "You have security camera records, don't you?" He asked calmly, not even faltering at what he was doing.
"Yeah, why?" Pegasus was looking at him curiously now.
"Mind if I hack into your systems to find them? You don't look up to moving right now." Pegasus gave a strained chuckle, and waved his hands in a 'go ahead' motion before letting them fall limply back on his lap. "Good, because I already did." And then he began clicking the right and left mouse buttons sporadically.
Hours passed.
Pegasus began reading Funny Bunny again, though his heart really wasn't in it, and the pages he used to devour in seconds now took fifteen, twenty minutes to read.
Finally, maybe three hours later, Kaiba picked up the laptop and sat down next to Pegasus, pretty much shoving the screen in Pegasus's face. "These are all the colors present in your camera records for all of duelist kingdom. All you have to do is left click when you see a color that might be the hair color of the culprit, and right click when it doesn't fit with your memory. I've already removed the reds and greens and blacks and such from the potential color list. When you finish, we'll run the tape and save any portions that bear the colors you selected into a new file. Then we'll just watch the new video and see if we can find any people who weren't on the list, and then we'll send pictures out and see if we can identify them, and then…" Kaiba paused in his tortuous explanation to find Pegasus staring at him. "What?"
"I… don't have anything to offer, besides my company, and that's already yours…"
"Consider it part of the original deal. I don't like to leave things half done."
"…Thank you. You didn't have to…"
"Let's work on the color selection, shall we? How does this color look? Here, use these buttons…"
[1] Manga is anime drawn and put into book form. It is usually read from right
to left, which gives me a headache, since some translators leave it at that
while others switch it to left to right format. I'm not sure if Funny Bunny
qualifies as manga or not.