Atem raced over to Isono. "You're in charge of Kaiba's security, right? He's being assaulted."

Isono looked at Atem. "I'm under orders not to interfere with Seto-sama's affairs unless he's in danger. He makes his own decisions, and he's more than capable of defending himself against unwanted advances."

"But …" These advances weren't wanted, were they? Seto had so obviously not wanted Pegasus pawing him, right? So wouldn't this be an exception? Atem scowled at the man, almost choking as he somehow managed to get out, "But he's had a couple of drinks, right? So he's not exactly making the best decisions right now, wouldn't you say—?"

"But, sir, that's not my job to evaluate. If I step in now, Mr Kaiba is likely to take offense, and—"

"B-but—Pegasus!"

"Honestly, Sir, ordinarily I wouldn't think that Mr Kaiba would have any interest in associating socially with Mr Pegasus—"

"But orders are orders. Right," Atem seethed. "Seriously, why am I wasting my time with you?!" Maybe Seto allowed himself too much latitude! I guess I'll have to pull him out of the fire myself, he thought.

Meanwhile, Seto, regaining his balance, struggled to remove himself from Pegasus' grasp. The man had quickly grabbed hold of his shoulders upon impact and was showing no signs of letting go. "I can walk," Seto stated. His instinct was to fight his way free, but causing that sort of scene in front of dozens of potential customers ran against his grain.

"Of course you can!" Pegasus replied amiably, without letting go. "But while you're here, may I ask how you're doing with that partnership agreement?"

"Why are you asking me that? Contact my aide tomorrow morning. Can I go now?" Seto was vaguely aware that he sounded terribly rude, but he really wanted to get away, and, besides, he had a reputation for rudeness anyway.

But now the grip Pegasus had on Seto's shoulders had somehow become more of an embrace, and his face had pushed in closer. "You know, Kaiba-boy, you really ought to think about being nicer to me," he suggested. "We have a lot of common interests. We could help each other a lot! And not just through business partnerships."

Seto arched backward, trying to pull his face as far from Pegasus as possible, but only found that it brought his body closer, which had its own drawbacks. "I'm sure I don't know how," he said distractedly as he considered how best to extricate himself from Pegasus' grasp without coming to blows.

"Well," Pegasus said, ignoring the wriggling of his prey, "for example, you can imagine that I've had a great deal more experience than you have, so I could perhaps—without going into too much detail—share some of that experience—of the world." Seeing Seto's expression, he hastened to add, "Without becoming too involved, of course, but … not to put too fine a point on it, it looks like the only time you kiss is when, well, you encounter, shall we say, a kissing bandit?"

"You're—?" Seto forgot for a moment to struggle.

"Of course!" Pegasus replied. "I've never made a secret of the fact that I'm interested. And if you'd like to gain a little experience in, say—" he bent to whisper in Seto's ear, "—kissing—" leaning back again, he finished, "I can help, you know."

Seto stared at him, eyes wide, stunned that he'd suggest that in front of a room full of their customers. Moreover, he was a little surprised by his own reaction. He was appalled and disgusted, he was sure of it, but some part of him was also strangely intrigued. He could only think that it was because this guy was several years older and doubtlessly much more experienced. The total effect was bizarre and disturbing.

He was in the process of trying to work out exactly how he felt, and somehow Pegasus had managed to reposition himself so that he was now gently steering Seto toward a side exit, an arm firmly wrapped around his shoulders in a friendly but forceful gesture.

Atem, having left Isono behind, scanned the room urgently for Seto. When a familiar laugh reached his ears, he looked over to find Kujaku Mai gazing at him with amused interest. "Looking for someone?" she asked.

"Well, yes … um, I was going to talk to Kaiba about something. … We're in school together," he added, feeling kind of lame.

Mai chuckled. "Yes, I'm sure," she said, "but he just now left. With Pegasus J Crawford. I'm sure they have business to discuss. Or something."

Atem didn't like the teasing tone of her voice. "I'm sure he'd prefer to discuss business during the day."

"What if they aren't discussing business?" she suggested. "Maybe they don't want to be interrupted?"

"In that case, I'm positive that Kaiba would prefer to be interrupted," he stated emphatically.

"Oh, but I'm positive that Kaiba can take care of himself."

Again with the wasting time. Atem gave him his harshest glare and said, "Just tell me where they went, please."

"Certainly. They went through that door," she said, pointing.

Sighing with relief, Atem only hoped they hadn't gotten far as he scrambled out the door. Odds were that Pegasus was maneuvering Seto toward the bank of elevators, so he hotfooted it in that direction. Fortunately, Seto wasn't being particularly cooperative, so Pegasus' progress had been slow. Atem found them about half-way down the main hall, Pegasus making some sort of soothing sounds as Seto responded with random efforts to shrug him off. Atem rushed up, laying an urgent hand on Seto's bicep, his mind in overdrive.

"Excuse me, please?"

"Atem-boy! No time now! Kaiba-boy and I are just about to take a private meeting—"

"Oh, it's just that, um, Isono sent me to tell you he needs to discuss that thing before you leave the party, so …"

"That thing?" echoed Pegasus. "Why didn't he come himself?"

"That thing? … Oh! Oh yes, that thing! That's right. Sorry, Pegasus, we'll have to meet some other time," Seto said with some relief, reaching up to pull Pegasus' hand from his shoulder.

"But there won't be a better time," Pegasus enunciated with special emphasis and a forced smile.

"I'm counting on it," said Seto. "See you later." He sighed and allowed Atem to help him back into the party. "I suppose I owe you thanks. I thought I would have to force him off me. It would be a problem."

"A scuffle between two prominent CEOs? I can't see why." Atem said wryly. He looked Seto over. "I thought you didn't drink."

"I don't."

"How many?"

"Hn. Three? Maybe?"

"I guess you don't. How are you feeling?"

"All right. I've been steadier."

"I tried to get Isono to help out, but he seemed to think you had it all under control."

"It wasn't like anything was going to happen," Seto affirmed. "I just didn't want to start an altercation in a public area."

"Which is why I wanted to enlist your man's help in creating a believable subterfuge to extract you from an uncomfortable situation."

Seto eyed him in such a way that made Atem wonder if the alcohol was hindering his comprehension. "Hn … I suppose there might be some non-critical situations in which Isono could intervene …"

"It might save you some social maneuvering," Atem suggested. "Meanwhile, I think that most of the business opportunities have wrapped for today. Why don't you call it a night?"

Seto looked around. "This party's a bust anyway," he said. "I suppose I will." He looked around the room and signaled to Isono, who nodded and headed out a door.

The two stood together awkwardly for a few moments. Atem wanted to say something, but everything he wanted to say were in forbidden topics. He wanted things to be fixed between them already. "Well, then," he said, "I guess I'll see you at school."

"See you around," Seto agreed. He drifted toward the exit.

Atem watched, feeling strange and vaguely unhappy. When Seto was finally out of sight, he remembered that he'd left his friends hanging and rushed back over, apologies flowing.


Seto sat in the back of the limo on the ride home with a distinct feeling of unease. Wasn't there something he was going to do? He hated that nagging sensation. What made it worse now was that his brain was in a sort of fog, and he wasn't used to that.

He thought back. Right. It was Crawford. Crawford had interrupted him in the middle of doing something important—and Crawford had practically assaulted him, so the incident had pushed what he wanted to do right out of his head. Damn him, anyway! Seto cursed silently.

So, what was it that—Atem! Seto frowned, thinking about it. He'd seen Anzu wrapped around Atem, no mistake about it … but then Atem had appeared to extricate him from Crawford's non-too-gentle clutches not long after.

What did it mean?

Seto shook his head. It didn't matter what it meant because he wasn't going to get involved with that guy.

Only … what if Mai was right? She had said he was most probably gay, and, not only that, he most probably had to be "in love" to do anything about it.

He felt his mind begin to ask a question, but he squelched it with all his might. I'm not going to think about that, he thought forcefully. Hell, he didn't even know for sure that he was even gay, yet! Those two people had nothing to do with him. Not a thing.

Only … for Atem to move on like that, so soon, was insulting; a blow to his pride. Not that he admitted it, even to himself, but his pride was smarting as it was, after the past couple of weeks. Thank goodness nothing happened with Crawford or things could have been even worse.

The whole night—the conversation with Mai, seeing Atem with Anzu, Crawford, everything—was distasteful. He spent the rest of the ride trying to put it out of his mind with limited success.

Once home, with the prospect of a shower and bed on his mind, Seto headed up to check on Mokuba. He found him happily working late on some homework at his bedroom desk. "Making work to wait up for me?"

"I wanted to say goodnight," Mokuba said, "and besides, I wanted to catch up."

"All right, then," Seto said.

"You've been drinking?" Mokuba said, surprised, as Seto neared.

Seto sighed. "A little. It was … an experiment."

Mokuba's brows knitted as he tried to understand. "And how did that work out?"

Seto smiled a little, and said, "I'd say not well. I won't be doing that again." In any way, shape, or form, he added mentally. "Good night, and get to bed." He leaned down and kissed his brother on the forehead.

"Sure thing," Mokuba said, standing and kissing his brother on the cheek. "Goodnight, Nii-sama."

Seto stopped for a moment and looked at Mokuba.

"Is everything OK?" asked Mokuba.

"Hn? Oh. Yes, everything's fine. I'm just … I'm really not going to try this again," he said.


Seto walked slowly through his bedroom into the connected bath. Was that what it was? he thought, annoyed. No wonder he hadn't realized right off. It wasn't until he'd felt Mokuba's lips brush his cheek. So innocent, brotherly, and still …! It was good to take a shower, because he was disgusted with himself.

No matter how much he could tell himself that his state of intoxication made Crawford more bearable, the fact that his offer—basically to "teach" him to kiss—was the least bit intriguing made him disgusted with himself.

But it was the only plausible explanation, and he didn't like it. What he did like—had liked—was kissing, and with a little loosening of inhibition, his subconscious desire for more of it had somehow manifested and asserted itself.

Now, with rivulets of water running over his body, he gently pressed two fingers to his lips, closing his eyes. Shit.

No more alcohol! Seto told himself firmly. He scrubbed himself vigorously from head to toe.

But now that he'd put his finger on the issue, Seto couldn't prevent the incidents that caused it from coming vividly to mind. Atem's kiss …

There were things you could do solo, but kissing wasn't one of them. Of all the things to get hooked on! But wasn't this the whole reason he'd decided on trying a dating experiment in the first place?

He stepped out of the shower and began the process of toweling off and preparing for bed. He felt more sober now, and Mai's observations began to come back to him. She seemed so sure in her conclusion that he needed to commit to any relationship.

Well, that was inconvenient.

It sounded time-consuming and emotional, both things that he had little patience for. Most of his time was scheduled already! Was it even going to be possible to find someone who could—or would even be willing to—understand the demands on him?

He picked up his cell from where he'd left it with his clothing. He didn't have the contact in his list, but it was in the KaibaCorp database. "Mai? Go ahead and arrange a meeting with your friend. Do you also have a female friend you could …? Yes, I understand, but I really think that it's necessary to compare to … Right. And … yes. I'll remember this favor. Your discretion is appreciated."

That done, Seto climbed into bed. He was almost asleep when a thought hit him, forcing his eyes wide open. What would he have done if Crawford hadn't come along? Shit, he thought, did Crawford save me from making an even bigger fool of myself tonight? He hated to think of the rumors that would spread around school if he'd gone over to Atem's little gathering. Atem might not say much, but Seto was pretty sure that blond kid was a loudmouth.

What Mai had said … and his desire to interfere with Atem's apparent new relationship … even if he was thinking about moving on, Atem had claimed he was attracted to Seto, so wouldn't it be easiest to talk to him about dating? At least seeing if it might work out? But …

He didn't want to admit that he was stuck on Atem! His pride rebelled at that! Atem had kissed him without permission! As part of a stupid game. Then he'd humiliated Seto by demonstrating that he had no control over himself. Maybe all he'd wanted was another chance at a kiss, but that's not how Seto had experienced it. And now, hugging some girl like nothing had happened? How could he just look past all that?

On the other hand, what if Mai was right?

He just wouldn't believe that. He'd make things work out, one way or the other. He was fine before all this started, so he should be able to just go back to not worrying about dating at all, if all else failed. Easy.

Right?

But right now, as he tried to settle down to sleep, it didn't feel easy. Not at all.


The next week was a long one for Atem. He was glad that he'd been able to rescue Kaiba—sort of—from the clutches of Pegasus, but that awkward parting lingered unpleasantly in his mind. Whenever he thought about it, he started to wonder whether it wouldn't be better to just give up on Kaiba. But then his pride and stubbornness cut in. He just couldn't give up; not when he believed Kaiba was attracted to him. It was just that stupid dare! If he could only figure a way to get Kaiba past that!

Honda was right. He had to give it time. During lunch periods, he found himself staring morosely in Honda's general direction, which usually prompted something like, "Huh? Do I have something on my face?"

"Uh, no, it's nothing."

"Could you stop staring then? It's creeping me out."

"Oh. Sorry, Honda."

This sort of thing happened several times over the course of the week. Jounouchi complained that he was too quiet and forced him to accompany him to the arcade twice to cheer him up.

By Friday's math class, Atem was counting the minutes for the end of the week to arrive so that he could just go home and try to put everything and everyone out of his head, but Jounouchi had other ideas. "Do you understand the assignment?" he asked.

"Not really," Atem admitted. He hadn't been paying attention to anything but the clock. He just wanted to leave.

"You have some sort of in with Kaiba, right? Ask him before he gets away!"

Atem frowned. "He's not just going to drop everything to help me—"

"If I don't pull things together, I'm going to fail, and—"

"All right, I'll try." It wasn't like his own math grades were that good, and it gave him an excuse to talk to Kaiba, no matter how flimsy. He trotted after Kaiba, catching up to him at his locker. "Um, Kaiba, sorry to bother you, but uh, I—and Jounouchi too—we didn't really get the assignment and we hoped you could explain it to me—"

"I don't have time to stand around after school explaining simple math concepts to you," Seto said with irritation. He pulled out his notebook and removed several pages. "Here. If you don't understand these notes, give me a call. I'll break them down into remedial detail for you. Right now I have a date to prepare for." He turned to go down the hall.

"A … date?"

"I have a life, Atem."

Atem was left standing behind Seto's retreating form thinking that there were a lot of people who would debate whether Seto had a life or not. Plus, as far as he knew, Seto didn't date, but could he really call him on it? "Wait, Kaiba," he called, running after the man. "Wait!"

"What now? Don't make me late!"

"Um, it's just … your reputation is that you don't date." Atem kept his intonation neutral and hoped that he hadn't managed to offend Seto even more than he already had with the dare.

"Perhaps, but lately I've had to reassess things," Seto said with pointed emphasis. "Now, I must be going." And with that, he turned and strode purposefully out the door to his waiting limousine.


Author's notes ...

Thanks for your patience. I apologize for taking so long to get this chapter out. I ended up re-writing from scratch once because I decided I didn't like the direction I was taking this, but I think I have the right vision now. I knew this would be a difficult write when I started because it's basic romance and the characters just don't want to turn around and get where they need to eventually go. Kaiba's stubborn that way. So it's getting longer than I wanted it to be. Anyway ... the result is that I'm not sure how much I like how it's going; hope it's OK.

Not much of a preview again, but for what it's worth, dates, anguish, and ... someone is surprised.