Yami knows he screwed up, and Seto doesn't give second chances.
Yami wants to blame Seto, but that's not fair, because just because Seto ran farther and for longer doesn't mean that he was the only one who did. Yami knows he should have stayed. Yami knows what he could have said before he left. He doubts it would have stopped Seto from leaving, but maybe he wouldn't have been gone so long.
How many times did he pick up the phone and stare at the numbers, biting his lip and trying to figure out what he was going to say? What he could say? One month ago, three months ago, eight months ago, a year ago, a year and a half ago, three years ago, five years ago. Five years ago, he knows exactly what he could have said.
"I'll stay."
Seto had been waiting for it, and that's the worst part, because Seto doesn't wait for anyone or anything, but he'd waited for Yami to say that, and all Yami did was confirm to Seto that he still can't count on Yami for anything but his life.
Yami will never get used to Seto being gone.
There'd been a report on the news a few weeks ago, mentioning that Seto would be coming home in two months' time, but for how long or if it were permanent, well, Seto wasn't one to willingly talk to the press. The actual news of his return had been a leak by an employee who most likely didn't have a job anymore.
Yami knew that Seto could stay. If he asked. But Seto asked him once, and that was a long time ago but the memory is still fresh for Yami and probably still for Seto, and Yami knows he should have and knows what he should have said, so what right does he have to ask Seto the same thing?
What obligation does Seto possibly have to say yes?
But Yami has to at least ask, because asking is the first step toward maybe possibly fixing what he screwed up.
Seto doesn't give second chances. But Yami isn't asking for a second chance. He's asking if he can go back to that first and only chance and...
and...
He doesn't know. He doesn't even know why he wants to ask Seto to stay.
It's not the loneliness, because Yami isn't alone. It isn't even that he misses a rival and an equal, though he will admit that he does.
Mostly, he just misses someone who understands exactly what it's like to exist in a void of nothingness and then wake up.
He's still got a week and a half before Seto returns.
Maybe by then, he'll be able to admit, at least to himself, that it's Seto he misses the most out of everything he lost when he walked out.
Next (and last) part should be up in a few days.