The song used in this chapter is Fly Me To The Moon sung by Frank Sinatra

Chapter Three

Endless Time

Time passes slowly. Seto keeps track of seasons rather than months - years rather than days - always sure roughly when the rainy season will hit and when he'll need to start hoarding supplies for the winter. But the sunrise and set have not dictated his life for many years. They bleed into one another, the sun and moon, melding together so imperceptibly it's impossible not to lose track of it. On more than one occasion, Seto's found himself staying in bed long into the morning or staying away from it well into the night simply because he can.

Crow makes things easier. He gathers food and does chores with zeal Seto hasn't known since he was a teenager himself. More than that, he prods Seto into action. He makes sure Seto gets up in the morning even when he doesn't want to. It's become less of an obstacle as of late. Seto wants to get up more days than not, now, if only to make up for the time they've lost.

"Argh!" Crow's indignant shouts draw Seto out of his musings. "Just get in the net you stupid-!"

Seto holds back a snort of amusement. Crow might lack the patience necessary to actually catch the fish, but getting to watch him wade ankle deep into the river, equal parts aggravation and focus, more than makes up for it.

Sunlight shimmers on the calm waters. Droplets glisten off Crow's dark hair, making it glitter like the trinkets adorning his person. His green eyes shine brilliantly. Seto finds himself transfixed by the scene and its beauty.

Time passes slowly. Moments like these make him grateful for that.

"Hey!" Crow yells from the river. "This would be easier if you actually got down here and helped me!"

Seto can't hold back a snort at that. True, his place on the bank probably isn't doing much good but he doesn't need any more fish right now. Crow's the one who'd wanted to come out here in the first place, not quite grasping the concepts of food spoilage and human digestion. "Just because humans need to eat sometimes doesn't mean we eat all the time," Seto had said but Crow hadn't listened.

"Yeah, laugh it up!" said boy shouts. "Maybe I'll just let you starve!"

Seto chooses not to bring up the fact that the only ones Crow's feeding with the fish he isn't catching are the cats. "It would be easier if you took off your boots!" he yells back.

Crow frowns down at his attire. He hadn't actually removed any of his clothes for this little excursion even though Seto had told him they would likely be ruined if they were to get wet. Crow had, predictably, waved him off. "You think a little water's gonna bother me?" he'd said. "Ha! I'm not as meek as you humans."

That had been at least several hours ago judging by the sun's position in the sky. Now, of course, Crow's simply too proud to go back on his words. Seto doesn't mind; Crow can always borrow clothes if he needs as they're about the same size now. Shoes, though, are a bit scarcer so they'll have to dry in front of the fire. Seto sighs. Crow won't like that but maybe he'll learn his lesson, though Seto has his doubts.

A wet boot lobbed in his direction, however, makes Seto think Crow might not be beyond hope. It misses him by several centimeters, landing instead to his right. "See!" he yells, holding it up. "I told you!"

Crow grumbles and tosses the other one. Seto grins victoriously. Now if only he would leave all his proclaimed treasures at the observatory, Crow might actually catch something.

"That'll never happen," Seto mutters affectionately. Crow would never let go of the shiny things he loves so much. Even when they sleep in the same bed, a regular occurrence ever since the first night, Crow's treasures are never out of arm's reach. At least, not the ones he usually wears. He's already managed to fill a spare chest with mostly useless, though admittedly pretty, objects.

Oh well, Seto thinks. It's not as if they don't have the space.

Seto falls back onto the grass. The late summer sun warms his skin while white clouds drift lazily in the cool breeze up above. Soon the leaves will change, the temperature will drop, and Crow's enthusiasm for fishing in the cold will become infinitely more helpful.

It's peaceful, this existence – still and soft in a way that leaves Seto content rather than the plethora of unidentifiable negative emotions that have been swirling around in his heart since before Ren died. From before he even found her, he thinks.

"Ha!" Crow's triumphant call breaks Seto of his thoughts before they can shift to melancholy. He sits up to see Crow holding up a rather large trout by the tail. It squirms and wriggles in Crow's grip but it doesn't seem to be going anywhere. "And you said I wouldn't catch anything!"

Seto chortles in good humor. He hadn't said Crow wouldn't catch anything, just thought it. "You did it!" he cheers.

"You're darn right!" Crow has approximately four seconds to look smug before the fish doubles its efforts to escape. Crow grunts, visibly struggling to keep his grip on the slippery trout but Seto can see it's a pointless endeavor. When the trout flops back into the river, Crow goes down with it.

Seto blinks. He hadn't… really expected that.

Then he bursts into a fit of laughter, loud and genuine in a way it hasn't been for quite some time. He laughs until his sides ache and tears stream down his cheeks and when Crow sits up in the water, dripping wet and looking like a disgruntled cat, Seto laughs even harder.

"Oh shut up!" Crow shouts, throwing his hat at Seto. It hits him in the face but he just keeps laughing. Crow pouts and he just looks so adorable, Seto can't stop.

Crow throws his hands up in frustration. "Will you just get down here and help me?"

It takes a second but Seto manages to get himself under control. "Sorry, I'm sorry," he says even though he's not. He rolls up his pants and wades into the river. "This is the most fun I've had in years."

Crow rolls his eyes. "Glad one of us is having fun," he says, holding out his hand.

Seto should have predicted Crow's next move. As soon as he takes the outstretched hand, Seto finds himself being pulled into the water by a pair of arms wrapped firmly around his waist.

Seto lets out a noise of surprise that he regrets seconds later when his mouth fills with river water. He struggles but Crow holds him fast.

Seto's vision blurs underwater but he can still see the teasing smirk playing at Crow's lips, the way his hair sways with the current, the mischief in his cat like eyes. Seto stares for a few moments too long, long enough for Crow's lips to lose their smirk and part in confusion. Like this, Seto could almost…

The burning need in his lungs prevents him from doing anything stupid. Seto takes Crow's lapse in concentration to break out of his hold and rise to the surface. He sputters and coughs, thoroughly soaked with the after taste of river water still fresh on his tongue. "Great," he mutters, grimacing. "Now we're both wet."

Crow is far too busy laughing to care. "You shoulda seen your face!"

Seto gives his companion a playful shove. "You tricked me."

Crow shrugs. "Consider it payback," he says, shaking out his hair.

Seto tries and fails to shield himself against the water droplets hitting his face. He supposes it doesn't matter; it's not like he can get any wetter. "Come on," he says, standing. "We should head back. Unless you want to try catching anything else?"

"Hey, I had that fish!"

"Is that why you ended up in the water?"

Crow glares, puffing his cheeks in annoyance. "Fine, I would have had it. Maybe if I just…" He shifts his gaze to his hands, frowning in contemplation. "If I could just…" he mutters, frown deepening.

Seto watches Crow in bewilderment. "What are you doing?"

"I can't… I can't move my hands." Crow's eyes widen suddenly as a spark of electricity dances along his palm.

Realization hits Seto like a freight train. Of course! How could he be so stupid!

"Come on," he urges. His heart thumps against his ribcage. Calm down, he tells himself. It's nothing that can't be fixed, or so he hopes.

He grabs Crow by the elbow and heaves him up onto the shore. "Can you walk?" he asks.

Crow's silent for a moment. He stares down at his are feet long enough that Seto knows the answer before he hears it. "No," Crow replies. "I can't move my hands or legs or anything! Urgh!"

"Hey, come on," Seto says struggling to keep his voice calm. "The sooner we get back, the better. I can help you."

Crow looks like he's about to say something but he doesn't. He lets Seto loop an arm under his shoulders. "What about my boots?" he asks.

For a moment, the black haired boy seems nothing like the Crow Seto had met all that time ago and even less like the Crow he's been living with for the past month or so. If Seto didn't know any better, he'd say Crow looks nervous – scared even.

It's so strange, Seto finds himself terrified at the thought.

It takes some doing but Seto manages to pick up both boots without dropping Crow. It's not much but it seems to placate Crow at least a little.

"Hey, Seto?" he says after a few minutes walking. "Next time, I wanna hunt rabbits."

Seto snickers in amusement. "You sure they won't be too fast for you?"

Crow pouts. He manages to jab Seto's side even with his limited movement. "Just you wait. I'll catch ten of 'em, you'll see!"

Seto chooses not to point out that there's no way he could possibly eat ten of them before they spoiled. Over the horizon, the sun's just starting to set as dusk creeps over the sky.

Seto roughly dries his hair with the only towel he owns. It's old and stained with something he doesn't want to think about but it does its job.

Their clothes and, in Crow's case, accessories hang along the clothesline. Seto smells unpleasantly of river water but the pajamas he's wearing are clean and dry so he can't complain.

Crow sits in front of the fire, clad in nothing but a pair of boxers. He'll dry faster with fewer layers between him and the fire but Seto still finds himself distracted by the sight.

Seto tries not to stare at Crow's mostly naked figure. He looks nothing like the other dolls decaying all over the forest. His skin, though it must be artificial, looks so real. It covers his entire body, leaving nothing exposed. Without any visible machinery, Crow looks as human as Seto, complete even with juts of muscle and boney joints.

Seto feels something settle in the pit of his stomach. He'd felt this around Ren, too, only a few times and he's old enough now to know what it means. He forces his eyes away from Crow's bare back with a heavy sigh. "I'm getting too old for this," he mutters to himself.

Crow hears him anyway. "Nah, humans have an average lifespan of eighty years," he says. Leisurely, he lies on his back, arms crossed behind his head. It doesn't exactly lessen the feeling in Seto's stomach. "Your existence is finite; live while you can."

"That's oddly insightful," Seto says.

"I'm full of surprises," Crow says, arching a brow in Seto's direction. "You just gonna stand there all night?"

"I," Seto starts and then stops. He's acting weird now. Crow's supposed to be his friend. Regardless of how Seto's body reacts to the boy, he can't let that change. So, he steels his resolve, tightens his grip on his feelings, and lays down beside his friend.

The fire is warm on his feet. The stars shine brightly through what's left of the glass ceiling. Without the moon to eclipse them, it's easy to find what few constellations he remembers reading about. He's always liked the stars. He used to believe just maybe, somewhere someone was looking up at the same sky, seeing the same stars as him.

He doesn't think so anymore but it doesn't bother him as it once had.

Seto shifts his gaze to his companion. Crow has his eyes closed. If not for the subtle twitches of his fingers, testing how much movement he's regained no doubt, Seto might think him asleep.

It's strange watching him. Crow's chest doesn't rise and fall, he doesn't make any noise when he doesn't want to and he has no facial ticks to speak of. It's these times when it becomes obvious just how inhuman Crow actually is. The dim firelight reflects off of his jet black hair, casting dark shadows against pale, glowing skin. He seems so otherworldly like this yet soft enough to touch. Seto can't help but let his fingertips brush against that silky black hair.

Crow cracks open a single green eye, hued yellow in the firelight. Seto feels his cheeks flush and tries to pull his hand back but Crow is quick to grab it. "It's okay, you know," he says. "Humans like to touch things, don't they? You can touch me, I don't care."

Seto's blush darkens as the feeling in his stomach returns. That's not what he meant, he tells himself, but it's a bit more difficult getting his body to listen.

Crow doesn't seem to notice Seto's internal struggle. He doesn't hesitate at all to run Seto's hand through that dark hair. "How does it feel?" he asks.

"How does it feel?" Seto repeats. It's still damp, leaving a small trail of moisture along his palm, but it's just as soft as he remembers. "It's nice," he says after a beat. "It feels real. Is it?"

Crow releases Seto's hand to tug on a strand hanging loosely in front of his eyes. "I don't know, maybe." He twists the strand around his fingers contemplatively as if he's not sure what real hair feels like.

Seto's not surprised then when Crows fingers gently twist their way around his maroon bangs. "How does it feel?" he asks.

Crow's brow furrows. His thumb strokes the strand for a few seconds before releasing it. "Dunno," he says. "Can't feel it. Robot, remember?"

Right. "Sorry," Seto says. "It's easy to forget."

Crow shrugs. "Don't worry about it. I can do way cooler things than any normal human can anyway."

Seto arches a brow, biting his lip to hold back a playful smirk. "Like fall into a river?"

"Hey!" Crow pouts, jabbing Seto in the ribs. "The only reason I was even in the river is because of you, ya know."

"And I told you, you didn't need to do that. I have plenty of food."

"Well excuse me if I don't want you to die." Crow huffs but there's no real bite to his words. Seto can't hold back a light chuckle at that. "Yeah, yeah," Crow mumbles. He turns onto his side, throwing an arm around Seto. "Joke's on you, I like it when you laugh."

Seto freezes, blush returning with a vengeance. He has to look away but he feels Crow smirking against his shoulder.

One day, a few weeks after the incident, Crow asks Seto to go on an adventure of sorts. Or rather, Crow tells Seto that he's bored and all but demands one.

"Take me to the shrine where you found me," he says.

"Why there?" Seto asks. True, Crow's never actually seen the shrine he'd been more or less stored in for presumably ten years. Frankly, Seto's not sure why he'd want to. "Wouldn't it just have bad memories?"

Crow gives Seto a skeptical look. "You're not going to get all sentimental on me, are you?"

"I promise nothing," Seto says teasingly.

Crow snorts. "Well, whatever. There aren't any bad memories there for me. There aren't any memories at all there for me so quit worrying and take me."

Seto can't say much to that. His own feelings about the place are largely positive given what came of his first accidental trip there. But there's another place with more memories that they'll need to pass through to get there.

It's strange being in the amusement park again. Ten years may have passed since their first meeting in this place but for Crow, it's only been a few months.

Before they'd met, this had been his whole world. No friends, no family, and no memories, Crow spent most of his time playing. Climbing around the decrepit amusement park, pretending he was a pirate in search of treasure, collecting anything he found even remotely appealing – he hadn't felt the need to leave.

That's not true, though, is it.

No, there had been reason to leave. No friends, no family, and no memories. More than once, Crow decided to look for them himself. But he never left. He had told himself he was just waiting for the right time – to stumble upon some clue. If he left the amusement park with no direction, he'd just get lost and then what? What would happen to all his treasures at the park, huh?

But that's not true either. He'd been afraid, not of what he might find, but that he might not find anything at all. The park was familiar, comfortable. He hadn't wanted to lose what little he had.

In a way, he'd been jealous of Seto. Seto knew what he wanted. He had a goal and he was chasing it and Crow hated that. It was Crow who was supposed to be brave and Crow who was supposed to go on adventures, not this human.

So, he bullied Seto a little – forced him to play for just a while. It had been so easy, too. Seto had fallen right into his role as the naïve human boy, desperately chasing after the fabled pirate king, Crow.

But chase Crow he did. Even caught him. Crow had never been happier to lose at his own game.

Seto stirred something inside him – something like determination and something else like love. Crow knows that now.

Funny how, even when so much time passes, some things never change.

"What are you thinking about?" Seto asks from his place beside Crow. The soft firelight makes his amethyst eyes sparkle like the gemstones they resemble. Some things never change.

Crow shakes his head and lies on his back, the full moon shining overhead. "Just memories," he says.

"Memories?" Seto repeats, lying down beside him.

"Yeah." Crow turns his head to look at his companion. Seto's eyes are much prettier than the moon anyway. "Good ones," he says with a smile.

Seto smiles, too.

The shrine is still as messy as he remembers. Time has only added to the layers of dust coating every available surface while ivy has almost completely taken over the outer walls. And yet, it seems untouched, the only noticeable absence being what he'd taken last time.

"What are we looking for?" Seto asks.

Crow's already knee deep in junk, sifting trash around like a kid in a candy store. "Anything," he says. "You're the mechanics guy; just see if you can find anything useful."

"Okay," Seto says. "And what are you looking for?"

Without missing a beat, Crow pulls out an only slightly damaged crystal star ornament from the pile. "Treasure," he says, grinning triumphantly.

Seto shakes his head but Crow's smile is infectious. Seems his love for shiny things goes beyond the metal he wears.

Seto doesn't need much by way of mechanical bits, but he sets to searching regardless. He finds a few things – dead batteries, blankets and spare cloth, and a whole sewing kit complete with new spools of thread and needles – but there isn't much else he needs. He's never had the opportunity or desire to take apart the decaying dolls and find out how they work so his knowledge regarding Crow's… situation is a little limited. Besides that, very little looks salvageable. It's amazing just how unscathed Crow had been even after spending a decade here.

Speaking of... "Hey! Come look at this!" Crow calls from the over side of the room.

Seto steps as carefully as he can across the floor. It's a slow process. "Did you find something?" he asks, still too far away to see it.

In the time it takes Seto to completely cross the room, Crow manages to pull the thing from the pile. "I think so?" he asks rather than says.

Seto tilts his head, finally getting a good look at the...

"What is that thing?"

"A phonograph!"

"A what now?"

"A phonograph," Seto reads. "Is a device invented in 1877 by Thomas Edison for the mechanical recording and reproduction of sound. The sound vibration waveforms, whatever those are, are recorded as corresponding physical deviations of a spiral groove engraved into the surface of a cylinder or disc, called a "record". To recreate the sound, the record is rotated while a playback stylus traces the groove and is therefore vibrated by it, reproducing the recorded sound."

Crow blinks. That was… wordy. "So it plays music?"

"I guess so," Seto says, nose still in the book. "It can be used to play back any recorded sound but music was its most popular use."

Crow pokes the thing – phonograph – again. Seto had miraculously got it to turn on after futzing with the batteries but it hadn't played anything. That must mean… "We need a record," he says.

Seto hums thoughtfully. "I don't think," he starts and then abruptly cuts himself off. "Actually, wait here."

Before Crow can ask, Seto jumps up and sprints down the loft stairs.

Crow huffs and flops back down onto the mattress. Music might be nice. He doesn't think he's ever actually heard it before, not like Seto probably has, but he knows what it is. Humans like it a lot, he thinks. Maybe it'll make Seto happy.

Seto isn't happy all the time. Crow supposes no one is – he certainly isn't but he's not human either. Some days are worse than others. Sometimes Seto wakes up crying and doesn't want to get out of bed after that. Those days are the worst.

Yesterday had been a day like that until Crow finally got sick of it and made Seto take him to the shrine. It seemed to alleviate some of Seto's sorrow, at least.

Crow still gets jealous sometimes – jealous that Seto can cry and jealous of the people he cries for. He wonders sometimes if Seto had ever cried like that over him after the first time. The vain part of him almost hopes so but there's another, much bigger part of him that desperately hopes not. It's this part that chastises him when he sees Seto cry; that makes him drag Seto out of bed and demand they do something.

He doesn't understand Seto's grief. He doesn't think he can, not really. But he knows he doesn't like it. He knows he'd do anything to make it go away, if only for a little while.

"Jeez," Crow says to himself. "When did you get this sappy?"

Footsteps pull Crow from his thoughts. "I knew there had to be something," Seto says as he reaches the top of the stairs.

Crow jumps up to see Seto place a large, black disc on the main box of the phonograph. "What is it?" he asks.

"A record," Seto replies. "I knew I'd seen them somewhere before. Grandpa used to collect this old stuff when he was still alive. I don't think he ever played them, though, least not that I remember."

Crow tilts his head. "What's the point of keeping 'em if you can't play 'em?"

Seto mulls it over for a moment. "Huh, you know what? I don't know."

Huh. Well, whatever. Humans are so weird.

Crow watches over Seto's shoulder as he turns on the machine. The disc immediately starts spinning but it isn't playing any music.

"Okay, now," Seto mutters, placing the stylus needle thing on the disc. "I think this goes here."

There's static for a moment, then a faint ticking. Then…

"Fly me to the moon, let me play among the stars," the device sings.

Seto positively beams. "It works!"

Crow finds his foot tapping along to the rhythm. It does work and it's pretty catchy.

"Let me see what spring is like on a-Jupiter and Mars."

"Cool," Seto says. "I wonder what else there-"

Crow grabs Seto's hand and pulls him to the middle of the floor without waiting for him to finish. "Think later; dance now."

"D-dance?" Seto stutters, cheeks reddening.

"Fill my heart with song and let me sing forever more."

Crow smirks. Seto's pretty cute when he blushes. "Yes, dance." He takes Seto's hands in his and starts to move to the music. There isn't much rhyme or reason to his movements; he just does whatever feels good.

Seto stares at their feet, brow furrowed and clearly putting way too much thought into this.

"In other words, please be true."

Crow wraps an arm around Seto's waist and pulls their bodies closer. Seto trips a little and has to grab Crow's shoulder. This is good, he thinks. It's just like what he's seen in books.

It only takes a few moments from there for Seto to relax and start moving along. He laughs, letting Crow turn him about with no direction. The jazzy beat plays from the phonograph. The words seem inconsequential but Crow remembers them anyway.

"Fill my heart with song, let me sing forever more," he sings along, twirling Seto. "You are all I long for, all I worship and adore."

Seto all but giggles with glee. Crow knows he doesn't have a heart but he still feels it swell with joy. He adores that laugh.

They're so distracted that they don't notice the mattress coming up behind them.

"In other words, please be true."

Seto's feet hit the bed, making him fall backwards.

"In other words…"

His grip on Crow's shoulder tightens instinctively, bringing the robot down on top of him.

"In other words…"

When Crow opens his eyes, Seto's lying on his back underneath him, lips parted and face flushed.

"I love…"

What… is this?

"You."

The music fades out in the background. "Are you all right?" Crow whispers, afraid to ruin whatever this is.

Seto hesitates for a moment. "I," he starts. Then he sits up abruptly, forcing Crow to move back. "I'm fine," he says. "Are you?"

Crow frowns. "I'm fine," he says slowly. Whatever moment they were having is dead now and Seto killed it. Why would he do that?

"Sorry, I'm not a very good dance partner," Seto says, laughing sheepishly.

"You were fine," Crow says. "Next time, we should move the bed."

"N-next time?"

"Yeah." He smirks. He's not letting Seto get away that easily. "Next time."

Time may pass slowly but no summer is endless. Soon enough, the temperature drops, the forest becomes a sea of burning reds and yellows, and one of Seto's gardens is ready for harvesting.

The whole affair takes much less time with two people, especially when Crow finds an old horse drawn plow and somehow manages to drag it through the dirt without it snapping in two. By the time they're finished, the cabbage and spinach seeds have all been planted and there's a basket full of sweet potatoes and carrots ready for stewing.

That's not to say, of course, that things go completely without a hitch.

Seto sweeps a small paintbrush between the exposed wiring of Crow's hand, delicately wiping away what little soil remains trapped their. "It's kind of funny," he says not unkindly. "You're actually supposed to wear gloves gardening but it's the one time you took them off."

In an effort to keep them clean, Crow had actually removed most of his outer layers and left them in the observatory. "I see what you did to my ring," he'd said. "I ain't letting any of my treasures get like that."

He'd succeeded in that venture, at least. Unfortunately, this left the crevices between his skin, minute as they are, exposed. Dirt quickly filled every available space. By the time they'd finished, Crow had completely lost control of his hands.

Crow glares down at his hands as if they've betrayed him. In a way, Seto supposes they have. "I get it, I screwed up," he bites out. "Tch, this body's not good for anything."

Seto frowns. "I didn't mean it like that," he says. "And anyway, I don't see how you can say that when the only reason we finished as fast as we did is because of you and your body."

"I didn't finish anything," he says bitterly. "You finished without me. What's the point of even keeping me around?"

Rage flares in Seto's gut for the first time in a long time. What's the point? "How can you even say something like that?" he whispers, voice trembling. "Do you think I'd just throw you out when you stopped being useful?"

"It's not about that!" Crow scoffs, rolling his eyes. "Of course you wouldn't throw me out; you're too you! You take in blind strays and give them all your fish and spend your time fixing me when you should be focusing on surviving!"

Seto blinks, anger vanishing as quick as it came. "Is that what this is about?"

"Well, duh! Humans are fragile and squishy and they get sick all the time! You could die at any moment! What if you starve, huh? Then what? Hey, stop laughing! I'm being serious!"

Seto tries to stop, he really does, but he can't help himself. Of all the things Crow could possibly be worried about. "Sorry, I'm sorry," he says. "It's just, what did you think I was doing before I found you?"

"Making friends with the local wildlife, how should I know?" Crow looks away, arms crossed and a scowl gracing his features. "Does it matter? If I'm not useful then all you're doing it wasting time fixing me."

"Crow," Seto calls gently. "You know, when I found you again, it was probably the happiest day of my life."

At least that gets Crow's attention. Reluctantly, he lets Seto pry his arms loose and retake his hand.

Seto runs his thumb over the still exposed wiring. It's almost funny – Crow is by far the more expressive of the two yet he calls himself inhuman.

"I survived as long as I did," he says. "I fished and gathered berries and water the same as I do now. I was surviving just fine." He pauses and tries to gauge his companion's reaction, a mixture of confusion and something else – something oddly reminiscent of the way Seto looks at Crow.

"I didn't bring you back here because I thought you could be useful," he continues. "I didn't have a reason. I just saw you and I felt so happy. After all those years, I found my best friend again." He squeezes Crow's hand, desperately hoping to make him understand. "I can survive just fine without you but I don't want to. For years, I missed you so much it hurt. I don't ever want to be without you again."

Seto inhales deeply, exhales slowly. His cheeks are on fire and his heart hammers away in his chest and he's never felt so vulnerable but he refuses to regret it. If it means Crow understands his feelings, he'll shout them from the rooftop. Even if they go unanswered, he won't hold back.

Crow's quiet for what feels like a long time. Tentatively, almost shyly, he trails a finger along Seto's hand to the all too familiar ring he still never takes off.

"You missed me, huh?" Crow whispers.

"Every day," Seto says immediately. He refuses to hesitate any longer.

"Jeez, are you always this sappy?"

The embarrassment coloring his words makes Seto's smile widen. "Don't make me hit you," he says but there's no heat behind the threat.

Crow snorts. "Oh, I'm so scared. It's not like I'd feel it anyway. Can't feel anything, remember?"

"You feel plenty."

Crow arches a brow. "Look, I know you forget about the whole robot thing sometimes, but trust me on this."

"And you trust me." No more hesitating. Seto presses Crow's hand firmly to his rapidly beating heart. "You're like me. Here, you feel plenty, don't you?"

Before he can think better of it, Seto closes what little distance remains between them. Crow's lips are as soft as they look, not warm or cool, but pleasant. It's gentle and chaste and much too short for Seto's liking.

Crow stares at him through half lidded eyes when he pulls back. "I thought friends didn't kiss."

"They don't," Seto says. This time when they kiss, they meet halfway.