Seto screwed in the panel and powered on the projector. He wired it correctly, so four streams of light came out, but that was easy. He had his starting point.

Mokuba squinted at it. "So much for getting it on the first try."

"I told you that wouldn't happen."

Seto turned it off and pulled up his sketches on his tablet.

"It would have been cool though. You get a new lab and then bam! Prototype."

"The lab doesn't make the technology."

And while it was nice to have, Seto needed to learn how to use half the equipment here. Knowing how a lathe worked didn't mean he could safely operate it. A lab this size needed a full staff of people trained and certified on the various equipment.

If Seto asked Pegasus, he would probably hire a team. Seto wouldn't need to ask. If he hinted at it, there was a good chance Pegasus would step in unprompted. Seto needed to be more careful how he phrased things.

"You could invent those AI robots to do the work for you," Mokuba said.

"And get blamed for their uprising?"

"You could program them…not to do that."

"And then get blamed for their servitude? There's no winning with AI."

"Sounds like it," Mokuba said. "There's too much drama in the engineering scene."

Seto leaned back in his chair and glanced around the room. Even with Isono and Mokuba inside, the building was too quiet. The AC ran almost constantly, and the equipment and test tables buzzed softly. He should have played music. The next time he came, he would bring a radio, or something with a good speaker system.

"Maybe you could let some friends from school work here," Mokuba said. "And they could help out."

"It's not a bad idea," Seto said, instead of telling him Ryou was the only person on campus willing to tolerate Seto.

"It's after five," Isono said.

Seto checked his watch. "All right. Let's get you back home."

"You don't have to go on the date," Mokuba said, but started to pack his bag. "I mean, people who date don't really spend that much time together, do they?"

"After five months? And a month and a half without seeing each other? Couples would go out of their way to have a date."

Pegasus's trip had kept him away longer than the typical month, and he'd missed the week he normally spent in Japan. He had just gotten back in the country that morning, and Seto knew he couldn't get out of it.

They'd checked up through calls and texts. Tonight was just dinner at Pegasus's, and Seto didn't expect it would last more than a couple hours. Although, he didn't expect the last dinner to end with the threat of arrest and Pegasus petting Seto's hair for half an hour.

Things with Pegasus had moved at a consistent pace since that night, and their conversations never drifted back to any topic along those lines. Seto watched the executions broadcasted over the last six weeks, and appreciated not having to see Pegasus after he'd just metaphorically washed the blood off his hands. Seto sat in a lab paid for with that blood.

"What time will you be home?" Mokuba asked.

"Probably around ten. I have a meeting with my advisor in the morning."

"I don't like it when you skip dinner."

Seto didn't like it either. Aside from being bent over a toilet vomiting, there wasn't an excuse Gozaburo would accept to avoid going to the table. The display of power weighed on the atmosphere at the table, stifling any attempts at conversation. Leaving Mokuba to that alone left him anxious.

"You'll keep an eye on him?" Seto asked Isono.

"Fuguta or me."

"Or both. I'll text when I'm on my way home."

Isono had driven to the lab separately from Seto, so after locking up, Mokuba went with him. He waved from the backseat, and Seto lifted a hand back.

He was nearing the six-month mark. But with Pegasus out of the country, Seto hadn't gotten any information from him to pass along. If he didn't get more, then what was the point of him staying around? The longer he stayed, the more attached he would become.

He hated that some of that attachment was emotional. He shouldn't have felt anything toward Pegasus, and should have wanted to get out of the relationship.

The longer he stayed, the harder it would be on him to go.

Ten minutes later, Seto pulled up to the gate and offered his ID to the guard. They barely checked it this time before waving him through. Seto hadn't expected it, and had cleaned out his car that morning in case they wanted to search it.

Pegasus met him at the door this time.

"I can't believe you have the energy for company after so long abroad," Seto said, and stepped inside.

"I always have the time for you," Pegasus said. "Come look at these souvenirs I brought back and tell me which are impractical for actual gifts."

"You assume I ever bother giving gifts to someone."

"Nonsense. I'm the man who paints unicorns in my spare time. I could use your practical opinion."

Pegasus took Seto's hand to lead him back through the house. They went up to Pegasus's office rather than his studio, where a row of small items was sitting across his desk. They varied from paperweights to painted boxes to coins. Behind them, Pegasus had left out what appeared to be work documents. None of them had cover sheets.

"Who do you plan to give these to?"

"Various politicians around. One for Croquet, although he saw me purchase them."

"Did he show a preference?" Seto asked, and stepped up to the desk. The papers were facing the wrong way for Seto's angle, as if Pegasus had just been working on them, and didn't put them away before getting the door.

"Have you met that man? He never shows the faintest inkling of personality."

"You wouldn't keep him around and buy him gifts if that was the case."

But Seto picked up each of the items to look them over, turning them around in his palm. The coins weren't appropriate for politics, but Pegasus wasn't a typical politician. The boxes felt more childish, but had a note painted at the base saying they were hand-painted by Argentina's local women.

"Wouldn't Croquet prefer a new pair of sunglasses above all else?"

Pegasus laughed. "Could you imagine? I outfit all my men in designer glasses. They'll be the cover models of Vogue."

"We'll have a generation of boys who aspire to wear dark suits and follow their friends around."

"When you put it that way, maybe I should just give him a bonus."

Seto put down the box. "I'm sure you know everyone well enough to know how they'll receive these gifts."

Pegasus inclined his head, and picked up one of the coins. "Who's to say? My radar seems to be off lately."

"You still know people well enough to pick out a gift."

"You're being delightfully unhelpful here."

Seto played it off with a shrug. "A step up from my usual state of unhelpfulness."

"We'll work on that. Let's start with dinner. You can help me decide what to order."

Pegasus led Seto out into the living room, where they sat side by side to look over the menu options. They leaned in close to read the menus, shoulders brushing. After being away a month and a half, Seto expected there to be some rebuilt distance, but felt nothing like it.

"The chicken there is good," Seto said of the menu Pegasus had open. "And their side dishes are better."

"Then I'll place the order, and you can tell me what I missed here."

Pegasus texted the order to the housekeeper, having to dismiss and email that came up with the subject line: About Recent Negotiations. Once he'd finished with his phone, he set it on the coffee table and angled in to Seto.

"There isn't much I didn't tell you during the calls," Seto said. "My first shot at the prototype went as expected. I've gotten ahead on my paper. Had Isono follow me around constantly."

"You make out your life in only significant events. What about the quiet of your day to day? Have you been spending much time with the Bakura boy?"

"As much as normal. He doesn't have much in the way of family."

"No? An only child?"

"His sister died a few years back, and his mother the year before that. His father left when he was sixteen."

Pegasus looked surprised. "All of that in such a short time must have been difficult."

"Incredibly. I couldn't imagine losing Mokuba."

Pegasus took Seto's hand, and Seto held it back. Their hands were close to the same size and shape, so they fit well together. Pegasus had dressed down today, with no frills or colors. His only flair came from his cufflinks, a pair of swords and a crown.

"What was the name of Mokuba's guard?"

"Fuguta. He and Isono switch sometimes, but it's usually Fuguta with him."

"Mokuba's as bright as you said," Pegasus said. "I'd love to spend more time with him."

"We can set that up."

Mokuba hadn't been as intimidated by the prospect of more nights together since meeting Pegasus. His main issue was Seto being pulled away during what might have been time spent together. When Mokuba joined in on a date again, Seto needed to make sure it would be another casual night. Seto couldn't tell Mokuba it was temporary.

He couldn't admit to himself he didn't want it to be.

Pegasus let out a breath, and put his other hand over Seto's. Seto read it as a preface to an intense conversation, and raised an eyebrow. Nothing he had said so far should have prompted anything serious.

"If I ask you something, would you tell me the truth?"

Seto's heartbeat fluttered for a moment. He didn't know what the question could possibly be, and didn't want to promise honesty he couldn't give. He tried rushing through all the possible options for what would come next, but didn't have the time. Pegasus was waiting on an answer.

"It depends on the question."

The smile Seto got in return didn't seem genuine, and read a bit sad.

"Do you care for me?" Pegasus asked. "I'm not asking if you love me. I know you well enough to know you'd need longer than five months to come to that. But just in a general sense."

It was the question Seto intentionally had been avoiding for months. Every time he thought of it, he deflected. Accepting any feelings justified the lie and made it real. But if he kept thinking the same thing and ignoring it, could he really deny it?

"I don't want to," he admitted. "If I'd known I would end up feeling anything, I would have kept pretending I didn't notice what you were doing."

Seto hadn't expected the surprised expression.

"You don't want to like me?"

"If it were you apart from your life, it would be different. I don't want your life."

Pegasus didn't let go of his hand, and slowly traced the veins between Seto's knuckles.

"You don't agree with my policies."

"I don't," Seto had to admit. "I wasn't lying when I said I have a problem with violence."

If Pegasus had seen the scars, he would understand. Seto trained in self defense he could never use, but that wasn't the same. Pegasus killed constantly, not even bothering to have someone else pull the trigger. He killed and expected the world to watch.

"Is that what it is then?" Pegasus asked. He didn't look up.

"What?"

"You knew my policies before agreeing to date me."

"It didn't feel like I could say no."

Pegasus closed his eyes. "And now?"

"I think you'd respect me enough not to do more than ask me why."

"Do you want to go?"

That had always been his plan. He was at five months, a month away from when he planned on ending things, and Pegasus was offering him a way out. Seto could leave, put this all behind him, spend the last six years with Gozaburo, and move somewhere peaceful with Mokuba and Ryou. He would be tortured for six years, but not caught up in fruitless espionage.

He put his hand on the stack.

"I should," Seto said, finally making up his mind. "And that's something I'll have to come to terms with."

It might make him a terrible person. Seto hadn't prepared to care for Pegasus, and hadn't been trained to remain uninvolved. Pegasus wanted more for Seto than anyone else, except maybe Mokuba. Despite everything surrounding Pegasus, Seto liked him. He wanted to stay in this relationship.

"You make me sound like a burden," Pegasus said.

"You're the most powerful person on the planet. A lot comes with that. More baggage than most people expect when signing on for a relationship."

"That baggage isn't going anywhere."

"I know. Like I said, I'll have a mental hurdles to get through."

Pegasus stared at Seto, searching his expression. Did he think Seto was lying about all of this? Lying to say he had no reservations would have been much simpler, and made Seto look a lot better.

Seto needed to talk to Bakura. He couldn't maintain both positions.

"Where do you see this going?" Pegasus asked.

"I've been asking myself that. I don't want to be involved in politics."

"But you want to be involved with me?"

"I do."

"You realize it isn't really one or the other."

Seto chuckled a bit. "I realize. It's difficult connecting the version of you sitting here now with the one in all the streams. I like this version."

"I'm both."

"Which is something I'll have to come to accept. Given time. But if you'd rather not wait on me, I understand."

Again, Pegasus seemed surprised by it. Seto wanted to read into the expression, but didn't know how. He didn't know Pegasus well enough for it. Did Pegasus ever let anyone get close enough to really understand?

"If I said I didn't want to wait on a future that may not happen?"

"I suppose I'd go back to focusing on my degree and eventually try paying you back for the lab."

"You wouldn't just give back the key?"

"It was a gift, wasn't it?"

"You were right," Pegasus said. "You do get more confident the more you warm up."

"What do you want going forward?"

Pegasus let go of Seto's hand, stood, and started to pace.

Had something happened while he was away? They hadn't been anywhere near this topic in December, but something must have triggered the conversation. Had someone else made an advance? Why after all this time did Seto feel a pang of resentment over that thought?

"It doesn't feel like you brought me here to break up," Seto said, trying to goad Pegasus into admitting what this was all about.

"Someone asked me about you last month."

"I feel like people would likely be searching for something simple to discuss."

"Are we simple?"

Seto conceded that point with a slight tilt of the head. "Easier than asking about business."

"Why don't you ever ask me about my work?" Pegasus asked.

"I don't care for politics."

"But you never ask about anything. Not really."

"Would you like me to?" Seto asked. "I just assumed I didn't have any need-to-know."

That stopped Pegasus's pacing. He turned to Seto. His chest rose and fell, heavy and deep, and whatever he held back filled the room with its strength. Seto's skin prickled.

"You'd be fine going forward without a whisper of what I do?" Pegasus asked.

"I wouldn't want you to think you couldn't discuss your day," Seto said. "But the technical aspects of it? That isn't my business."

He hadn't gotten anything useful for Bakura, and wouldn't stress himself trying to scrape together pieces of unuseful information. The next time he ran into Bakura, he would back out, and then that would be the end of it. He didn't think Pegasus would want to marry him, and eventually the relationship would dwindle on its own. How Seto felt when that happened would be tomorrow's problem.

"You want to be here?" Pegasus asked, almost forcefully.

"You've given me plenty of outs. I wouldn't be here if I didn't."

"You said before you felt obligated to say yes to me."

"At the beginning," Seto agreed. "I wouldn't have accepted the lab if I planned to back out next week."

Pegasus stared, then flickered his glance from Seto, head to toe. "I don't know what to make of you."

"Anything I can help clear up?" Seto asked, because this didn't add up, and had been going on long enough to unsettle him. Pegasus couldn't keep talking around something without addressing it outright, could he?

"Do you want to continue this relationship?" Pegasus asked.

"I shouldn't, but I do," Seto said. "That's as simple as I can make it."

"Why do you want to? It seems like the odds are stacked against me."

"You bought me a lab," Seto said, starting at the first moment he realized he wanted to stay, while also trying to work out why for himself. "And it wasn't the lab itself, but the fact you believed in me that much. No one has ever had that sort of confidence in me. People don't ask about my interests, because it gets technical and that bores them, but you constantly ask. More than that, you listen to the answers and prompt follow ups."

Seto crossed his legs and leaned back. It was too dark out to see through the window, but he stared toward it anyway before continuing. "It's selfish. I hear how selfish it sounds. You're the first person who...who makes me feel like I'm justified in my self confidence. Everyone else has tried to make me smaller. I'm not meant to be small."

Pegasus came back over, this time sitting on the table in front of Seto. He sat with his legs spread, elbows on his knees.

"It doesn't sound like that's asking much."

"It shouldn't be."

"You're saying it sounds selfish, but that feels like the bare minimum. You've never been in a relationship with someone who cared about your work?"

"Never."

"What about Ryou?"

Seto never considered a relationship with Ryou. It didn't feel like they would be even remotely compatible in that regard. "He's straight, and also, even if not, he's more into linguistics and history. He couldn't follow well enough to carry on the discussion."

"You don't have anyone around who you can really talk to?"

"I've just gotten used to it."

Pegasus's hair fell to one side when he tilted his head. "What did you come into this relationship hoping for?"

It was an awkward question to answer, but in the name of honesty, Seto did. "A way out."

"And that changed when I gave you the lab?"

"It wasn't about the lab itself."

"I know, but that was the timing?"

"It was."

Pegasus worked his jaw for a moment, and again, Seto saw the unspoken thought behind his eyes. Seto wanted to ask. Get it in the open. Whatever it was, Seto didn't feel like lying anymore.

"Then you're happy with the pace we're moving things," Pegasus said.

"I am. I have a lot to work through, and now that you know I've only recently been invested, you do too."

Seto wanted to postpone him seeing the scars. He needed to come up with a lie for them first, one that wouldn't get Gozaburo arrested or killed. Whoever he blamed them on would bear retaliation from Pegasus. Or maybe now that Pegasus knew, he wouldn't want to go on.

"You're saying I won you over."

It sounded more extreme when said so abruptly.

"It was bound to happen eventually, no matter how much I resisted the idea. I hoped to spend my life hidden in a lab, not on page one."

That broke through Pegasus's forced neutral expression, and he ended up smirking. "Is it a life commitment now?"

"You should hardly hold me to that. I'm clearly an emotional wreck."

"This is you as an emotional wreck?"

"As much as I'm willing to own up to."

"I don't believe you."

Seto ran his tongue over his teeth. "Then I'll admit I typically smoke when I'm emotional."

"You never smell of smoke."

"Intentionally."

"Do you want to smoke now?"

"It couldn't hurt."

Pegasus stood and offered Seto a hand. When Seto took it, he pulled him off the couch, and led him out to the balcony. The back garden was well lit, and standing near the railing, Seto had a good view of it.

"I assume you have cigarettes on you," Pegasus said.

"Always. Do you smoke?"

"Very rarely. I'll bum one, if you don't mind."

They lit their cigarettes and leaned against the railing, and for a few moments, said nothing. The night was clear and cold, the air brisk enough to give Seto's system a shock. He needed that. He needed to get himself back to the headspace necessary to maintain this discussion. It had gotten far too personal.

"So to summarize," Pegasus said, and let out a smokey breath, "You agreed to date me out of obligation, but realized you wanted to be here after I proved I cared about you."

"That's the gist of it."

"Did you think I just thought you were too attractive not to date?"

Seto laughed. "I didn't know what it was."

"So you considered it a possibility."

"It's been known to be a driving factor before."

"I'm not hardly so shallow. I hoped you'd be different."

Seto looked at him. "I get the feeling I've failed in some regard."

"It isn't exactly flattering to be told your partner of half a year didn't want you for the majority of it."

"I do now," Seto said. "Despite everything before. Is it cliche to offer to start over?"

"We're going to have to."

Taking a drag of his cigarette, Seto went back to staring at the garden. "I've never had to start over before. Most people just leave when things get difficult."

"I want to believe we have something real here."

"I won't promise we can," Seto said. "I don't know if I can get past watching you kill someone weekly. Or the constant press."

"What do you suggest we do about this?"

"Keep it casual for a while. Give us both time to think on it."

Pegasus put out his cigarette against the railing. Seto's still had a ways to go, but it was technically his third today, so he put it out too.

"Are we fooling ourselves?"

"Maybe. Do you enjoy spending time with me?"

"I do."

"Then we can focus on that. I enjoy spending time with you too, and maybe we don't need to make it more complicated than that."

"I suppose that's a place to start. The cigarette didn't do anything for me. Let's get a drink."

Seto gave the garden a final glance, and decided next time he came over on the weekend, he would ask for a tour of it.

Inside, they went back up to Pegasus's office, where he had a drink cart set up next to a small sitting area. There were papers on the table, and for the third time that night, Pegasus had let Seto see controlled information sitting around. The first two times, Seto thought it had been incidental. But Pegasus had a mansion's worth of sitting areas. He could have taken Seto anywhere.

Someone had brought up that Seto wasn't genuine, causing Pegasus to reevaluate everything, invite Seto over, and put him within reach of the very information Bakura sent him to get.

Pegasus poured the drinks, and kept his gaze away from Seto. It felt intentional.

Seto leaned forward, picked up the papers, and flipped them face down.

"Where should we start?" Seto asked.

Turning, Pegasus offered Seto a glass of scotch, and in one of the most damning expressions yet, let his gaze flicker down to the papers.

Did he know?

"Why don't we start with some honest answers?"

Pegasus sat beside Seto.

"What would you like to know?"

"What motivates you in life?"

The scotch was strong, but Seto drank half the glass. Tonight, he'd take all the help he could get to keep himself from reacting. Scotch was Gozaburo's drink of choice. Seto was used to it.

"My brother's well-being," Seto said. "It's always been my first priority. Followed by my technology. I want to make it real."

"That doesn't seem hard to obtain."

"You'd be surprised."

"Explain that to me."

Seto turned the glass around a few times, tilted it so the overhead light reflected on the scotch. He wanted to explain in a simple way, without giving away too much. Pity could get him out of a tough spot, but he didn't want it.

"I'm planning to create seemingly impossible technology," Seto said.

"Why is your brother's well-being a trouble?"

"People think they can use him to get through to the family."

By people, Seto meant Gozaburo, and by family, he meant Yagami. But given Gozaburo's position, the reasoning seemed plausible. Lying came easier now.

"People have tried to hurt him before?"

"More often than I care to think on."

"I'd imagine that leaves you constantly looking over your shoulder," Pegasus said, and finished off his own drink.

"It does."

Pegasus's phone buzzed, and Seto didn't so much as look at the screen, in case tonight had been a test. From here out, he didn't intend to look.

Pegasus sighed softly. "Do you still want to have dinner?"

Had dinner been the reason for the visit, or had Pegasus expected this conversation?

"I'd like to," Seto said. "We did say we wanted to focus on getting to know each other better."

"I just got the message the food's here."

Maybe he didn't suspect anything. This could have been as simple as someone planting a seed of doubt in his mind. They were nearing the landmark time for Pegasus's relationships ending, and this might have been normal.

Seto didn't plan to help Bakura. He'd take his chances with Pegasus and let them play through without outside interference. If he couldn't get past the executions, then it sounded like Pegasus could accept it and let Seto leave.

Seto took the hand he offered.

He really did want to have dinner.


Thanks for reading and reviewing!

You can expect an update the second weekend of December.