Title: Common Ground
Romance: Pegasus x Kaiba x Jounouchi
Chapters: 1-1||Words: 3,582
Genre: Romance, Humor||Rated: PG-13
Prompt: Yu-Gi-Oh Pairings: Season 8: Round 14
Notes: This takes place in a minor AU from manga canon, in which Pegasus survived Duelist Kingdom. It also takes place after Battle City. Summary: If Jounouchi had had any idea about how his trip to see Pegasus in the hospital would've ended, he might've thought twice. Might have. Some benefits are too much to pass up.

Goddamned hospitals. Jounouchi rubbed his nose and tried not to think about where he was. That wasn't easy, given that the sharp scent of antiseptic and people in white uniforms surrounded him on all sides. But he tried nevertheless.

He glanced around; no one appeared to be paying attention to him, which was just what he wanted. None of them are going to let me in to see him. He was rich and rich people paid good money to keep people like him away from them, no matter whether they were sick or not.

Well, that wasn't going to stop him. He had something to say and he wasn't going to let something as ridiculous as money or hospital regulations get in his way.

He checked the area out once again and then started down the hall, timing his movements so a large group of visitors hid him. He didn't know who they were there to see, nor did he care.

All right. It only took a few moments to get past the nurse's station and once he was past that, he knew that they'd all figure he'd been checked in by the rules and he could head straight for the target.

It would help, he decided, if he knew just which room his target was in. That's what the names on the doors are for, idiot, he told himself with a bit of a mental hiss. Honda would laugh at him if he'd heard that, he knew. Good thing that he wasn't there to hear him.

He headed down the corridor, checking each door as he passed it for the name. None of them came close to it and he turned down another hallway, trying not to show how annoyed he was. He didn't want to try to eavesdrop on the nurses. Who knew if they'd say anything he could use?

Jounouchi's attention flicked across another nametag and he took three steps before he realized what he'd just read. He backed up and checked again, just to be sure, and grinned. Finally.

Another check around showed there weren't any nurses in the area. Good, good. He turned the door handle and pushed in, poking his head around the crack so he could get a good look inside.

Unlike most hospital rooms that he or his friends had been in over the last few years, this one had only a single bed in it. Jounouchi shook his head at that; it must be nice to be rich if you were sick. In that bed was a form he wasn't exactly familiar with, but he recognized anyway.

"Jounouchi Katsuya." Jounouchi froze where he was at the sound of that voice. He hadn't heard it in months, but he recognized Pegasus Crawford when he heard him. Not that he figured he should be too surprised; that was who he had come to see, after all. He just hadn't expected the older man to recognize him before he could properly get into the room. "Come in."

If it hadn't been for the quiet voice of a nurse in the room next door, Jounouchi might have rethought this whole decision of his. Instead, he stepped inside and closed the door behind himself. If Pegasus were going to throw him out, he'd at least demand to say his piece first.

Despite his dislike of hospitals, he came right over to the bedside and pulled up a chair. Without thinking about it, his gaze drifted at once to the left side of Pegasus's face.

He's still bandaged. Jounouchi pulled his attention away the second he realized what he was looking at and focused on the far side of the wall. It took him another minute or two to realize what Pegasus was doing.

He was laughing.

"W…what's so funny?" He all but glared at the artist propped up on his pillows. How could it be funny to lose an eye? Especially for someone like Pegasus? Didn't he need his eye? Sure, it had been gone a long time, but now…now he didn't even have the Millennium Eye to replace it.

Wonder where it is. He wasn't going to ask Pegasus. That wasn't what he was there for.

"You, dear boy." Pegasus turned to gaze at Jounouchi. "You act as if this is something not to be stared at." He brushed his fingers past the fall of silver hair that covered the bandaged side of his face. "Look all you please. You won't see anything."

Jounouchi shook his head. "I didn't come here to stare at you."

"Why not, you wouldn't be the first person who did." There was a hint of annoyance in Pegasus's tone and Jounouchi dropped his gaze to meet that of Pegasus without thinking about it. "Oh, yes, more than one person has bypassed security to see if the rumors are true about me being in here." He gestured to a stack of magazines and newspapers on the bedside table, many of them relating to dueling and all of them with articles about Pegasus and his mysterious disappearance after Duelist Kingdom. "I am quite considering buying this hospital just to fire all of the security officers."

"What would you do with it then?" Jounouchi had to ask. He'd never heard of doing anything like that. At least not said by anyone who, so far as he knew, was more than capable of doing it.

Pegasus only shrugged. "Sell it to someone who knew how to run a hospital. I don't." He made himself more comfortable before he once again caught Jounouchi's eye. "Now, tell me what you really came here for."

He hadn't expected to hear such a demand with such bluntness, but he didn't care. He rubbed his hands on his pants and drew a steadying breath inward. "I wanted to thank you." The words weren't as hard to say as he'd thought they would be.

"Thank me?" Pegasus tasted the words he said as if he'd never said them in his life. "For what?"

Jounouchi swallowed. This might be more difficult. "For everything. You made Duel Monsters. If it weren't for that, I wouldn't have been able to save my sister's eyesight."

Not that he wouldn't have tried, of course. He would've done anything to get the money. But without dueling, without the game that this man had created, his chances would have been so much worse.

Pegasus said nothing in response and Jounouchi found more words waiting for him. "She can see again, and I saw her. Since our parents divorced, I might not have been able to do that for years." Stupid words, stupid clumsy words; he'd always worked better with his hands than with his voice, be it fighting or dueling. Why couldn't he say what was right in the first place?

"You're welcome." Pegasus's soft voice broke into his thoughts and Jounouchi found himself staring again. The older man stared into his eyes. "If I couldn't see her again, then at least you can see your loved one."

Her? Oh, right. Cyndia, the woman that he had loved when he was young. Younger. I don't think he's even thirty yet. Pegasus had the sort of face and features that held an ageless maturity, no matter how many years he'd actually lived through.

Jounouchi fidgeted, trying to think of something else that he could say. "What happened to your eye?" That wasn't what he'd wanted to say. Not at all.

"Someone took it out." Pegasus's hands clenched for a moment on his blankets. "I don't know who." He shook his head, paling as he did. "I must remember to give Crocketts a raise. If he hadn't found me when he did, I would have died." Something told Jounouchi that Pegasus was not as healed as he might've hoped he was, even after all this time.

"Are you going to throw any other tournaments?" There, that was a much safer kind of question. His deck burned in his pocket and he realized that on some level, he really wanted to know the answer.

There was none for several minutes, however, and Jounouchi tried his best to avoid poking the man to get one. He was sick, the blond repeated to himself, and he'd already made one mistake in this so-called conversation. Pegasus would either kick him out soon or, if he were feeling nice about it, make some kind of excuse like wanting to sleep to get him to leave.

"I haven't decided." Pegasus said at last. He gestured again and now Jounouchi saw the line of a laptop computer underneath the magazines. "I've kept up with how business is doing. Perhaps I will." There was a thin hint of a smile on his lips now. "Battle City was certainly interesting."

"You're telling me." Jounouchi muttered, one hand passing near his chest. He didn't even know how half of that had happened. There was still so much they had to do, and he had no idea of where Yuugi (either of them) wanted to begin.

"I would hope that any tournament that I threw would be interesting."

Both Pegasus and Jounouchi's heads came up at that voice and Jounouchi found himself on his feet, glaring at Kaiba Seto where the tall brunet stood in the doorway.

"Who invited you?" Jounouchi snapped, his fists clenching. Kaiba delivered a cold stare down his nose.

"I would imagine the same person that invited you." He turned his attention to Pegasus, his entire posture declaring he'd paid enough to Jounouchi. "So you are alive."

"Many reports to the contrary aside, yes." Pegasus adjusted himself once again. For all that Jounouchi could tell, he might well have been seeing both of them in a plush office, wearing a fine suit, instead of being in a hospital bed and with one of those ridiculous gowns on that always wanted to gape open in the back.

Kaiba took three steps closer, all of his focus on the man in the bed. "We have business to discuss, Pegasus."

Business? Jounouchi's fists clenched even harder than before. "You did kind of notice he's in a hospital, didn't you, Kaiba?"

The brunet spared a single moment of a glance. "I had wondered what all the doctors and nurses were doing here. Thank you for that remarkable insight." He tilted his head toward Jounouchi.

"Yeah, well, I've got a real reason for being here and it's not business." Jounouchi snapped. "You could at least wait until he's out of here." A vague memory crossed his mind and he frowned harder at the teenage CEO. "I thought you guys were going to America, though."

"I would think even you would realize that it's possible to go to a place and come back." Kaiba shifted his gaze back to Pegasus and Jounouchi could all but see himself dismissed from the situation. "I want to know what further interest you might have in KaibaCorp."

Pegasus lifted one eyebrow. Jounouchi wondered as he did if the other one, hidden by bandages, lifted as well. "My dear boy, my interest in KaibaCorp ended some time ago." Silence reigned in the room for a few moments, until Pegasus spoke again. "Though I am always interested in new business deals. If they're interesting enough."

Kaiba's eyes narrowed for a moment. Jounouchi could all but see two different ideas warring in those ice-blue eyes. One of them involved walking out of there with his head held high, refusing to have anything to do with Pegasus and Industrial Illusions ever again. The other involved forming some kind of deal with the man and somehow coming out on top.

I've gotta do this. Jounouchi had no idea of why. As much as he appreciated what Pegasus had done that had helped him, he also remembered that duel in Pegasus's mansion and how the silver-haired duelist had treated both Kaiba brothers. He lazed back in his chair for a moment. "I don't know if you'd be interesting enough for Pegasus, Kaiba. I mean, he invented an entire game. All you can do is make holograms for it. You couldn't do anything without him in the first place."

He managed to stop himself from smirking at the way Kaiba's eyes lit up at that. He kept himself relaxed and glanced at Pegasus, whose lips twitched just a fraction at the sight.

"He might be right. You are rather…" Pegasus searched for the word, and Jounouchi didn't think it was because of the language difference. "Boring."

Again Kaiba's eyes flared and Jounouchi went for the next step. "I don't really know a lot about this business stuff, but since Pegasus makes cards…I bet you couldn't make any yourself. Or have anyone else make good cards."

"Since you don't know anything about it, why don't you just keep your mouth shut and let people who do talk?" Kaiba snapped and Jounouchi let himself grin openly this time.

"I wonder how right he is, though." Pegasus picked up the thread as if he read Jounouchi's mind. "Could you create cards of your own? Or have other people make them at your request?"

Kaiba's gaze shot between Jounouchi and Pegasus. Then he folded his arms over his chest and lifted his head. "Easily. What's more, I'll go one better. I'll hold a contest. You and I will judge the entries and the winner will have their designs shot into space in a KaibaCorp capsule." His lips twisted, though it wasn't quite into a smile. It was much more of a mocking smirk. "Perhaps they'll take on whatever mystical energies one could find in space and become real cards."

Pegasus's smile was much warmer and far more real than Kaiba's. "Perhaps they will at that."

Jounouchi rolled his eyes; he doubted any of this was actually going to happen. Kaiba, send cards into space? Cards that someone else made? Oh, hell, no.

A shadow moving near the door caught his eye and he looked up to see Mokuba there. The younger boy said nothing, just watched for a few moments. When he saw Jounouchi looking at him, his eyes narrowed and he lifted his head, refusing to meet the blond's gaze.

Just like a Kaiba. Jounouchi turned back to the other two. It did feel good to have at least done something. He didn't know what he'd done it about, other than somewhat taunting Kaiba and Pegasus into working together, but he liked how he felt about it anyway. Maybe they'd learn something from each other. Yeah, right. It was probably about as likely as Kaiba actually sending up someone else's card designs.

He leaned back in his chair, reluctant to leave even though he'd already said more than he'd meant to. For one thing, he didn't want to put up with Kaiba's snarky comments about how he'd have to sneak out past security again. He knew the brunet would say something about it. He wouldn't be Kaiba if he didn't.

"I really must thank both of you for coming by today." Pegasus declared, his eye sparkling with more life than it had since Jounouchi had entered. "You deserve repayment."

Jounouchi rubbed the back of his head and stared. "What?" It wasn't the most eloquent question ever and he could feel Kaiba's annoyed look on the back of his head. He ignored it.

"You heard me." Pegasus looked at both of them. How he pulled that off with one eye, given where they were in the room, Jounouchi didn't know and wasn't going to ask. "I've stayed here because I haven't had anywhere else to go and very little to do. Now I have an interesting new project to work with." He tilted his head and stared at Kaiba. "You do realize that setting all of that up will take time."

"Of course. It can't be done overnight." Kaiba shrugged, as if none of that mattered to him. It probably didn't. "But I don't need any repayment." Indeed, the word itself appeared to taste like poison on his tongue, if the way his lip twisted meant anything.

"You're going to get it whether you need it or not." Pegasus shot back. "Dinner tomorrow night at my Domino apartment."

Jounouchi shook his head; had he drifted off and started dreaming? There was no way anything else could've happened. "Sorry, I can't make it."

"And why is that?" Pegasus stared at him and from the corner of his eye, Jounouchi could see Kaiba's sneer. "I'll send my limousine to pick you up and you don't have to dress for it."

"I just…" Jounouchi didn't want to say that having a fancy dinner with two fancy gentlemen (well, one fancy gentleman and Kaiba) wasn't something he was all that interested in doing. "I've kind of got something else…" Pegasus wasn't going to believe him.

One brown eye stared at him, then Pegasus nodded. "The limousine will be there at seven o'clock." From the tone of his voice, he wasn't taking no for an answer. Jounouchi started to draw in a breath, wanting to turn the offer down yet again, even if Pegasus didn't want to hear it.

"You're wasting your time." Kaiba interrupted before he had a chance to so much as form the words in his mind. "He'd just make a complete idiot out of himself." He laughed, flicking his attention to Jounouchi. "Of course, if you want to see that, I do recommend it."

That sealed it. Jounouchi pulled himself up to his full height and glared at both of them. "I'll be there." He'd do it, just to prove to Kaiba that he could. He'd proven himself in dueling, he could prove himself at dinner if he had to. Or just wanted to.

"Good. I'll see you both there." Pegasus pulled the blankets back and sat up. "But first, I need to get out of here."

Jounouchi didn't like hospitals, but he knew enough about them to know he didn't really want to see what would happen when Pegasus sat up. "Yeah, I should get going." Besides, he was going to need to get ready for this dinner.

He'd only taken a few steps toward the door when Kaiba also made his farewells, such as they were. He didn't look back, no matter how close those sharp clicking steps came to him.

"You're going to make a fool of yourself." Kaiba passed him by, tossing back a smirk. Jounouchi imagined what it would be like to drive his fist right into that far too perfect face.

Wonderful. Too bad he couldn't do it. Not right now, anyway. Punching Kaiba out in the middle of a hospital that he'd more or less snuck into (much more than less) wasn't that great of an idea. Patience is a virtue. Or something. I guess.

"Hey, at least making a fool of myself doesn't bother me." Jounouchi snapped back, setting the thoughts of beating Kaiba bloody aside for the moment. It would give him good dreams tonight. "It's not like I haven't done it before." Besides, it just didn't seem to matter in the long run. Not next to having thanked Pegasus.

"How well I know that." Kaiba's voice flowed by him, smoother than silk. Jounouchi decided in that moment he would go out of his way not to do anything wrong at this dinner. Just to annoy Kaiba by not doing so. "What did you come here for, anyway?"

That, Jounouchi thought, disturbed Kaiba a little. He hadn't expected someone else to be there when he'd had his own confrontation with Pegasus. But he shrugged. It wasn't as if it were a secret.

"I wanted to thank him. I was able to save my sister's eyesight because of Duelist Kingdom."

There was absolute silence from Kaiba for a few brief seconds. Jounouchi enjoyed the sound of that. He glanced over to see just what the other was doing and wasn't surprised to see Mokuba now walked in between them. Kaiba had his head turned, a thoughtful gleam in his eyes as he looked at his own brother.

Heh. Never thought about that, really. Kaiba would never have to beg someone else for help for his brother. He'd put himself through hell for it already.

Something about that hovered on the edges of Jounouchi's thoughts. Everyone has something to fight for. Kaiba had said that himself at Duelist Kingdom. Despite that, it was true.

He fought for Shizuka. Kaiba fought for Mokuba. Pegasus…I guess that girl of his. Cyndia. That was a fight that had ended in a loss.

Jounouchi shook his head and pushed all of that out of his mind. He had a long walk back home and then he had to figure out what he had that was suitable to wear to a fancy apartment for a fancier dinner with two guys he wasn't sure if he liked or not.

No, I am sure. I don't like Kaiba. I like messing with him. That was easy to figure out. Pegasus was a little harder.

Well, it didn't matter. One dinner wasn't going to be that hard to deal with and it would be something to brag about afterward. How many people did he know who would be able to say they'd not only tricked Kaiba and Pegasus into working with each other (or tricked Kaiba, whatever) but had dinner with them afterward?

He saw Kaiba's limo pulling off ahead of him and grinned. Yeah. This was going to be fun.

The End