A Christmas present to Mamono who wanted to see more Tristan in fanfiction.
An Olive Branch
by Kysra
"You scared her, you know?" Taylor's words were a harsh whisper against the soft whirring of the revolving helicopter blades.
Seto Kaiba refused to look at the other boy, blue eyes trained imperiously on the dark expanse of cloudy sky stretched out before the windshield glass, "I don't know what you're talking about."
An audible huff was the pencil-head's answer as he fell into the co-pilot's seat. "That stunt you pulled on the roof. You scared all of us, and most of us don't even like you."
"Then why are you annoying me?" It was said with anger and bite, hiding an undercurrent of shame. He could see Taylor's face turn toward his out of the corner of his eye, and Kaiba had the presence of mind to keep his countenance closed, frozen, blank.
"Téa cares about you. I don't get it, and Joey thinks she's nuts but . . . . She's not the only one. Mokuba . . . What would he have done if you had followed through on your threat?"
Silence and a tightening around Kaiba's mouth were the only response to Tristan's inquiry. "I'll tell you what would have happened: You would be dead, Mokuba would be a soulless shell, and . . . the world would be short one Kaiba. Yugi – God only knows if Yugi would have pulled through on his duel, Pegasus probably would have won, and –"
"Enough." It was a command.
Tristan shook his head, eyes burning, and throat dry. He croaked, "Life isn't a game, Kaiba. It's not win or lose. You can't go around threatening to jump off of buildings even if you are desperate. We would have understood, if you had just told us what was going on! Don't you get it, yet! Don't you understand what those two have been trying to tell you since the first!"
Blue eyes clashed with gray-brown as the two teens stared each other down for long moments before Seto reiterated what he had spoken to a shaking teary-eyed girl atop Duelist Kingdom Castle, "I have all that I need."
Tristan stared at him calmly before standing to return to his seat next to Téa whose grip on Mokuba had not slackened even as she slept. "You're right. You have all of us."