Hideshipping (Pegasus J. Crawford/Mutou Yugi)

. . .

He looks flustered, Pegasus thought, taking a draw from his tea cup. I'm half certain I know why.

It was a breezy spring day in Domino City, a good day to be in an outdoor café like this one, and technically, Pegasus wasn't supposed to be here. He was supposed to be in Beijing for a convention with some other top dogs in the gaming industry. But he had a few days before that, nothing an all-night flight couldn't get him to. And this city was so wonderfully nostalgic, he couldn't help but make a stop for a relaxing few days.

The source of his thoughts, however, was looking anything but relaxed. Mutou Yugi looked flushed and winded, his chest rising up with each gasp. He fumbled with a pair of reading glasses on his nose, pulling them off and haphazardly hooking them into his pocket, almost losing them once before he caught and tucked them. He walked at a sort of brisk pace through the crowd of people winding up and down the sidewalk, violet eyes flickering over his shoulder once or twice.

Pegasus heard them before he saw them—the telltale chatter and shuffle of feet that only came with the most persistent of paparazzi.

Ah, that's right, Battle City IV is this year, isn't it?Pegasus thought with another sip of his tea, eye turning up towards the umbrella over his head. Poor Yugi-boy. I can't imagine how he manages. Continuing to live in the same city where the repetition of his most infamous tournament takes place, and then refusing to participate? I'm surprised the press hasn't ripped him apart yet.

Pegasus finished one more sip of his tea as the heard the paparazzi come around the corner. Yugi was stuck against a particularly slow knot of people, and he looked actually nervous as he looked over his shoulder to see if they were catching up. Pegasus stood up, placed his tea cup down, and walked leisurely around the table towards the crowd on the sidewalk—it didn't do to run when the press was around. They could almost smell fear, he thought—like a bunch of velociraptors.

Yugi didn't notice that Pegasus was standing next to him until Pegasus touched his elbow gently. At the touch, he flinched, eyes widened and face paling. He stared at Pegasus for a second—clearly confused by the hat and ponytail for a moment—before recognition dawned over his face.

"Pega—"

"In a moment, Yugi-boy, why don't we find ourselves a more calming environment, hm?"

He took Yugi by the elbow and guided him around the knot of people, taking off his hat as he did so and handing it to Yugi.

"See if you can't fit your hair under that, hm? And your glasses, put those back on."

"I—"

"Trust me, Yugi-boy, I've been avoiding the press for years."

Yugi grimaced, blushing sheepishly, but he accepted the hat and smushed his spikes underneath it, pulling it down over his eyes. Pegasus flipped out his extra, emergency hat from a pocket and replaced it on his own head, tilting it to hide his eye patch.

Yugi was just putting his glasses back on when the stampede reached them. Yugi stiffened—much too noticeable. Pegasus pinched him on the side and he yelped, turning quickly to glare at Pegasus. Pegasus took advantage of that and pulled Yugi off to the side. He dropped a few nonsense words in French and pretended to point at a sign, turning Yugi by the shoulder to look too.

It was just enough—he turned his face away from the crowd of journalists looking for him, just as they were passing, chattering to themselves about where he must have gone.

It almost seemed to leave an echo when they finally passed, and for a moment, Yugi and Pegasus just stood there, off to the side of the stream of commuters.

Yugi was the first to giggle—it was a sound of release, and relief, an "I can't believe that just happened" laugh. Pegasus had to let out a chuckle himself.

"You have to remember you're famous, Yugi-boy," he said with a wink. "If you don't want to get caught by the pack, you have to take precautions."

"I guess you're right," Yugi said, smiling with a weary chuckle. "I keep forgetting that the blasted tournament starts around now. I thought I could go to the grocery store without being mugged."

"My boy, you're not going to be allowed to do much of anything without being mugged for a while," Pegasus said. "The more you draw away from the dueling sphere, the more fascinating you become."

"That sounds so backwards," Yugi muttered.

"It is, but the papers must have their stories, after all."

He laughed softly, and Yugi joined in a laugh of his own.

"Well, I'll let you have your hat back; thank you for your help. I don't know what I would have done if you weren't here."

Pegasus put his hand on top of Yugi's before he could take the hat off.

"Keep it; I've got twenty of the same," Pegasus said. Yugi looked like he was going to protest, but Pegasus only shook his head with a smile. "A trade then—I left a very nice cup of tea at the café back behind us…perhaps you have the time to sit with me for a while and let me know how you've been?"

"A cup of tea in exchange for escape from the press pack? That almost seems too cheap," Yugi said with a grin. "Sounds like a deal."

. . .

A/N: Cuter than I expected~ next is Hellshipping (Sakate x Takaido x Ghost Kotsuzaka).