Disclaimer: I may not have updated in a few months, but that doesn't mean I've forgotten that I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh!

"You're predictable

Cynical

I see it in your eyes

You're so typical

You're so damn typical"

~Cartel, Typical

Chapter 28

As Seto was getting dressed the next morning, he heard a knock on his door.

"What is it, Mokuba?" he asked wearily as he snapped his silver bracers into place. Ever since he'd agreed to let Mokuba take Hilary as his date to the event, his little brother had been pestering him with questions her parents had about it even after he'd already talked to them on the phone.

It had been a strange conversation for both parties. Hilary's parents knew of course that Seto was Mokuba's guardian, but given that he was barely an adult himself, they questioned his ability to chaperone the two teenagers properly-not that they'd even come remotely close to saying so during their phone conversation. Seto, for his part, hadn't really been sure what to say to them at all considering that he couldn't grasp what their trepidations could possibly be given that she'd probably be safer coming with them to San Francisco than she would be walking to school.

In the end they'd agreed to let her go which in Seto's opinion had been the end of it, but they'd kept coming up with more questions which they'd passed on to Mokuba through Hilary, who then asked Seto.

"How do I look?" Mokuba asked, entering his brother's bedroom and joining him in the walk-in closet. He had pulled his hair back and was wearing a black T-shirt emblazoned with the KC logo, and jeans, and of course, his locket.

"Why are you asking me that? It doesn't matter what you're wearing today."

"I know, but I have a reputation to uphold now." Seto rolled his eyes.

"It was one article in some stupid magazine for teenage girls. And to be honest, calling it an 'article' gives it way too much credit." Two weeks prior Hilary had brought a copy of one of the most popular pop-culture magazines with her on a date in order to show him that he had a picture on the front cover. The picture corresponded to a short piece in the magazine which had essentially described Mokuba as an 'up and coming hottie'. He'd been extremely proud given that it had always been Seto who got all the attention and he'd been starting to think that perhaps his brother had been graced with all the good genes.

Seto wasn't sure why the whole thing bothered him so much, refusing to even consider the possibility that he was jealous. He'd always taken his status as a celebrity for granted whereas Mokuba actually seemed to enjoy all of the attention.

"It wasn't just one article," Mokuba said, stung.

"Two then, whatever. I don't know why you care so much about what a bunch of nitwits without even half a brain between them think of how you look. You should want to be known for being clever, not for being attractive."

"Easy for you to say; you're known for both."

"Yes, well, only being clever is worth being proud of." Mokuba sighed.

"Sorry I asked…" he mumbled, preparing to leave again and Seto felt bad for bursting his bubble.

"Don't sulk; you have nothing to worry about; you'll be known for both too I have no doubt." Mokuba perked up at once.

"You think so?"

"Of course. I wouldn't expect anything less. And you're already halfway there." Mokuba puffed his chest out.

"I am pretty good-looking."

"Well, you're clever anyway." Mokuba childishly stuck his tongue out at him.

"We'll see about that! Pretty soon all the clothes companies will want me to model for them instead of you!"

"Fine by me." Though admittedly Seto was vain enough that even if being asked to model annoyed him, he'd be pretty upset if the requests stopped. "You told her to be here by ten, right?" Seto asked, pulling his Duel Monster card locket over his head. Mokuba nodded.

"She should be here any minute. Actually, I'm gonna go wait for her, ok?" With that, he bounded out of the room, once again leaving Seto alone with his thoughts.

Seto couldn't believe that his brother and the Hilary girl were still an item and that they had been for longer than he and Alistair had. He didn't consider their relationship very mature of course, mostly because he didn't understand what his brother saw in her, but he was nonetheless impressed that they'd kept it up, and seemingly without too many problems.

He was not looking forward to a weekend of chaperoning them. They were far too touchy-feely and lovey-dovey for his taste. Usually he only briefly had to endure their mushy coupley-ness, but now he'd be forced to bear witness to it all weekend. He supposed he could always play the 'that's not appropriate so knock it off' card given that he was in charge, but he felt relatively powerless to do so because of Mokuba seeing his and Alistair's completely undignified display of affection on the landing the one time the two of them had gotten drunk together.

Within the next few minutes he finished preening and shrugged on his purple trench coat before walking downstairs to join his brother; his and his brother's luggage had been loaded onto the plane the day before.

By the time he made it outside, Hilary had arrived toting a small pink suitcase.

"Hi," she greeted him from the safety of Mokuba's side, twirling a strand of her long blonde hair around her finger nervously. She still had no idea how to address him and had settled on not calling him anything at all. "Thanks again for letting me come; I've never been to America before!"

"Is that all you're bringing?" he asked, nodding towards her suitcase and ignoring her statement.

"Yes. And I have my passport and money, and Mokuba says he has my ticket, and I brought sunscreen just in case; I didn't know how the weather would be." She realized she was babbling and quickly shut up. Seto always made her uncomfortable and when she got uncomfortable she tended to prattle on until she was finally able to force herself to stop.

"Fine. Alfred should be here any minute to pick us up. I see Kanzo has already dealt with your car."

"Yes. I hope it's ok to store it in your garage until we get back."

"Obviously or else I wouldn't have suggested it." He caught his brother's gaze and realized there had been no reason to be so harsh. "It's no trouble," he amended, his tone less confrontational.

"Well, thank you." Seto, who felt just as uncomfortable around Hilary as she felt around him, fished around in his pocket for his cell phone and checked his messages while they waited for Alfred to arrive with the limo. He smiled at a text from Alistair wishing the brothers a safe trip to California, and frowned at one from Roland informing him that the flight was being delayed a half an hour. He called the manservant to ask what the holdup was just as Alfred pulled up the driveway.

"Someone realized at the last second that there wasn't enough fuel to get us all the way to California," Roland explained. "But don't worry; we're going as fast as we can!"

"Just fix it!" Seto barked as he got into the car. "And while you're at it make sure someone calls the airport there to tell them we'll be late; I can only imagine that whoever was stupid enough to forget to check the fuel has forgotten to do that too."

"Understood sir."

"Good." He hung up and instantly wished that the phone call had taken longer; Mokuba and Hilary were deep in conversation, apparently about some test she'd just had in her history class, and the longer it went on the more like a third wheel he felt and he didn't care for it one bit and ended up turning on the limo's television for the first time ever as a means of distraction for the forty minute commute to the airport. He quickly clicked over to the Dueling Network where they were showing footage from last year's red carpet event. He'd been in particularly bad spirits since the event had been held shortly after Alistair had left the first time.

Sure enough, when they showed a clip of him and Mokuba posing for the cameras he looked even more unfriendly than usual which contrasted awkwardly with his younger brother who'd insisted on flashing a peace sign. Then came Wheeler and Mai Valentine and Yugi and the other dweebs as well as several other world-renowned duelists. He'd literally been the only one who hadn't smiled for the cameras and he had no reason to think that would be any different this time. Plus, unlike last year, he'd have to stand with Mokuba and his insufferable girlfriend like some kind of parental bodyguard instead of a powerful CEO and world class dueling champion. He wrinkled his nose at the thought though there was little he could do about it. Or was there… Something occurred to him and he suddenly wasn't so disgruntled that there had been a delay in their flight.

Before that day Seto had never been to the Domino Public Library, though he was almost positive that Kaiba Corp had donated money to it in the past.

"This shouldn't take long," he informed a bewildered Mokuba and Hilary before jumping out of the car and marching towards the entrance, his trench coat billowing out behind him, as always, seemingly caught in some nonexistent gust of wind. He marched straight to the front desk where a young woman was sitting and typing into a computer.

"Hi, how can I help…you?" Zoe asked, starting when she looked up and realized who was standing in front of her. "You're Seto Kai—."

"I need to speak to Alistair Ravensdale," Seto said, brusquely cutting her off. "Now. Where is he?"

"Alistair?" she repeated questioningly. "He's uh…I…I think he's in the young adult section. But I can double-check," she added quickly, pulling the day's schedule up on her computer and trying hard to maintain some level of composure. She couldn't believe she was having an actual conversation with Seto Kaiba.

As she scanned the schedule she made a mental note to ask Alistair what kind of cologne he wore since he and Kaiba wore the same brand, and tried to memorize everything she could about the brunette's appearance so she could tell her friends about it when she saw them later that day. They'd be so jealous. She wondered what Kaiba could possibly want with Alistair and why Alistair had never mentioned that he and Kaiba knew each other. If it were her she'd tell everyone.

"Yeah, he's in the young adult section. Do you want me to take you…?"

"That won't be necessary. Oh." He remembered the check he'd filled out and pulled it out of his pocket. Setting it on the desk in front of her he added: "if anyone has a problem with him leaving early they can take it up with me, but if they want the other half of that I suggest they keep those problems to themselves." Zoe could do little more than nod. The first half of his task complete he turned on his heel and strode further into the library.

Oh. My. God, she mouthed, whipping out her cell phone and hurriedly sending a mass text to everyone listed in her contacts after taking a picture of the check, making sure to feature his signature.

Alistair had been in the middle of unloading a cart of returned material when he saw Seto sauntering towards him. His eyes widened in surprise.

"What are you doing here?" he asked, even more taken aback than he had been when Seto had shown up to his German class if that was possible. "Don't you have a flight to catch?" He tried to keep his voice low seeing as how they were being stared at by everyone in the near vicinity.

"It got delayed so I thought I'd make a pit stop."

"Well…I uh…I can't really talk; I'm working." He gestured towards his cart with the book he was still holding in his hand. Seto snatched it from him and set it on top of the low bookshelf.

"Only if you want to be. But I guarantee you that I pay better than these people."

"What're you—?"

"I want you to fly us to San Francisco. I'll pay you triple what you're getting for this."

"I can't just leave in the middle of my shift…" Suddenly Alistair's bewilderment gave way to exasperation. "What am I saying? We've already talked about this! So unless you want me to find you something to read during your flight, I can't help you. Oh, and while you're here you should check out the art display."

"Art display? No, Alistair, I want you to come with me."

"Why?" Alistair demanded, grabbing the book Seto had snatched from him and ramming it into its' spot on the shelf before moving onto the next one.

"I don't want to be stuck with Mokuba and his girlfriend all weekend."

"I'm sure you'll survive."

"God dammit, Alistair, can't you just—?"

"Do things your way?" Alistair finished for him. "Yes, I can, but no, I won't. Not unless you can give me a really good reason to. And I advise you to think quickly; you're making a scene and if you're not careful people might start thinking we're together." The latter part of his statement was made in a mocking tone.

"I don't care."

"Maybe I care; did you ever think about that?" Seto stared at the irate redhead.

"What are you talking about?" All of a sudden Alistair grasped what Seto had actually said.

"Did you just say that you don't care if people think we're together?" Seto rolled his eyes.

"I've heard it said that reading is fundamental, but I'd put listening pretty high up on that list too. Yes, that's what I said." There was a cough from behind them and both turned to face none other than Alistair's supervisor who'd just spoken to Zoe after noting the disturbance in the library's vibe. Having been caught up on the details he'd made his way towards the young adult section and waded through the small crowd of people to get to the source of the commotion.

"I'm so sorry," Alistair started in a much more submissive tone than Seto had ever heard him use before; he'd never seen the redhead so intimidated by anyone; clearly he needed to take lessons from this guy. "We were just…" Himeno strolled up to them and without a word took the cart Alistair had been unloading from him and began finishing the job for him after nodding in acknowledgement to Seto.

"I think it's safe to say that the library won't collapse without you here to sort the books," Seto said. "So what do you say? I hear the weather in California is nice this time of year."

"If you ever do something like this again I'll do it to you," Alistair warned him. "And I can make just as much of a scene as you can."

"Duly noted."

"And we are using this flight to talk about a few things; including that you have got to stop blindsiding me like this!"

"Deal," Seto agreed, though the thought of being trapped on a plane and having to talk about his feelings wasn't something he was necessarily a fan of.

When Seto emerged from the library ten minutes after he'd entered it with Alistair in tow Mokuba had to admit that he was a bit surprised; Alistair had seemed pretty resolute about not coming on the trip. Then again, Seto usually got what he wanted.

"Let's get going," Seto told Alfred once he and Alistair had gotten in the car and were seated across from Hilary and Mokuba.

Alistair knew better than to bring up anything important in front of Hilary, such as what the hell Seto had meant about not caring, and was forced to content himself with small talk, none of which Seto indulged in, though he felt infinitely more comfortable with the redhead by his side and for the briefest of moments he rested his hand on top of Alistair's on the seat.

"You know," Alistair said as they approached the airport. "I don't have my license with me. Or my uniform. Or my passport."

"Relax: we have a copy of your license on file, ditto with your passport, and as for the uniform; who cares? Do you want to fly the first or second half?"

"Second." Seto grimaced. That meant Alistair would want to talk for the first half of the flight.

"Fine."

Once on the plane, Hilary and Mokuba quickly claimed seats in the Kaiba's private section, leaving Seto and Alistair trailing behind them.

"Why do you really want me to come?" Alistair asked as the two casually walked through the huge aircraft.

"I told you; to stop Mokuba and his little blonde cheerleader from driving me crazy. And because with you there this will be less unbearable," he added after catching sight of Alistair's skeptical expression.

"So you'll actually let me hang around without making me pretend we don't know each other? Progress."

"Don't patronize me. I mean it. I was watching a recap of last year and I realized that since Mokuba has a date I'd have to stand alone. Don't get me wrong: I normally wouldn't care, but there's no reason it has to be that way. Why should Yugi and Wheeler get to parade around with Mai Valentine and Téa Gardner when I can't? It's my event!"

"You want to parade around with Mai Valentine and Téa Gardner?" Alistair couldn't help but joke.

"You know what I mean."

"Are you sure that's what you want to do?"

"I wouldn't have suggested it if I wasn't sure."

"You won't be able to take it back."

"I know that!"

"Why?"

"I don't want you to think that I'm ashamed of you. Besides, now that we're not living together anymore sneaking around is impractical. But understand that if we do this, it's going to affect you too."

"I never cared about that," Alistair replied, pulling the brunette in for a kiss, disregarding the people walking past them. To his surprise, even though he could sense them staring, Seto didn't mind.

They appropriated the onboard conference room for the purpose of their heart to heart once the plane reached cruising altitude.

"What do you want to talk about?" Seto asked, taking a seat at the head of the conference table.

"Everything."

"That could take a while."

"If you're going to fight me every step of the way this isn't going to work."

"Which would be such a shame." Seto rolled his eyes and Alistair, who'd remained standing, crossed his arms.

"Let me make something perfectly clear: if you and I haven't learned anything from what happened the last time it's going to fall apart again this time. We need to seriously evaluate whether or not there's even a point to trying to make this work."

"I'm sorry, I was under the impression that we already had," Seto said defensively, referring to the previous weeks in which they'd spent what little free time they'd had together. Alistair's expression softened when he realized that Seto truly felt as though they'd resolved their underlying problems.

"I get that you think that, but we haven't talked about it. Maybe you can mentally evaluate this kind of thing, but I can't, and I can't help but feel like the last few weeks have involved a lot of us not talking about things. And the fact that you thought it was appropriate to drag me out of work to fly to San Francisco with you proves to me that we definitely need this talk."

"Like you've never dragged me out of work before. I seem to remember you dressing up like Pegasus and threatening my company in order to get me to duel you. Oh, and there was that other time when you hijacked my plane to force me into a rematch." Alistair sighed.

"Yes that happened, but I think we've established that those were bad life choices. And judging by how much you bring up how stupid those things were I think it's safe to say you probably don't want to come across the same way." Seto flared his nostrils but didn't say anything to the contrary.

"What do you want to talk about?" he repeated. "And could you possibly be more specific than 'everything'?"

"I need to know that you're not going to fly off the rails this time."

"Not this again…"

"I'm serious. I know you can't make any promises, and neither can I, but you really screwed me over when you kicked me out and that cannot be allowed to happen again. You had no idea if I had somewhere else to go or not and I was really lucky that Ryou let me stay with him or else I would have had to use the money I'd saved up for university to get an apartment which would have meant I'd have had to drop out of school."

"That wouldn't have been a problem if you would have let me pay your tuition for you," Seto pointed out.

"That's exactly why I didn't let you pay my tuition for me. Imagine if you would have been paying for my school as well as my room and board; I would have been left with absolutely nothing. That's why I'm not moving back in with you until I'm financially able to support myself."

"That makes no sense unless you're expecting moving back in with me not to work."

"No, that's me making sure I wouldn't be left out to dry if it turned out that it wouldn't work. I'm being responsible. In my place I hope you'd do the same thing." Seto had to acknowledge that that was true.

"What do I need to say to convince you that we're fine?"

"We've been pretending that now that this whole Out Loud scandal has blown over everything's just hunky dory. Well it's not. If you think that our only problem was that one fight then I'm ending this right now." Seto could tell that Alistair wasn't bluffing and struggled to figure out what he was getting at.

"I understand that part of the reason why that happened was that I made you keep this a secret," he started slowly, keeping an eye on Alistair's face to gauge whether or not he was on the right track. "But I told you that that isn't important to me anymore. That's why you're here."

"Go on," Alistair prompted him and Seto felt a flash of anger.

"I'm not a child!" he snapped, getting to his feet. "Why don't you tell me what you don't like that I do instead of making me guess?" Alistair suddenly realized that perhaps his tone had been condescending.

"I really don't like that everything always has to be your way; what we do or don't do dictated by your mood only. I told you that I didn't want to go on this trip and yet here I am because that's what you wanted."

"You could have said no."

"I said no at least four separate times! I only caved the last time because you weren't giving me much of a choice; we were making a scene in the middle of the library, where I happen to work I might add. You'd never let me get away with embarrassing you at work like that!"

"You wouldn't dare."

"And you do? I know I'm not a CEO or anything like that, but I happen to take my job seriously and you constantly making me feel like it's nothing that important doesn't exactly fill me with self-confidence."

"It's not my responsibility to make you feel good about yourself," Seto sniffed. "You have to do that on your own."

"Do you really think that?" Alistair demanded, hurt. Seto grimaced. It had been wrong of him to say that. Being good was so much more difficult than being a jerk.

"I just mean that you shouldn't let what I say bother you so much. My step-father was always telling me that I was stupid and that I'd never amount to anything and all sorts of crap. If I would have listened to him he'd probably still be in charge of Kaiba Corp."

"I could be wrong, but I think you and I have a slightly different relationship than you and your step-father did-not that he should have said those things either. The world is cruel enough without people who actually care about each other saying stuff to hurt each other. You'd never say anything as disrespectful as some of the things you say to me to Mokuba." That statement really hit home, but not for the reason that Alistair had intended. As soon as the redhead said it Seto felt an ache in his chest; he did say hurtful things to Mokuba sometimes.

"You're right. And I'm sorry." Alistair looked at him in surprise; he'd expected getting an apology out of the brunette to be like pulling teeth. "Just try to understand that this is hard for me. I don't want to keep using it as an excuse, but I didn't grow up like you did. I'm not saying your life didn't suck, but you were never alone like I was. I know, I know, I have Mokuba, but I barely ever got to see him. I barely ever got to see anyone. If I wasn't studying I was sleeping. And if I was studying my step-father or his odious butler would be lurking nearby, telling me I wasn't working hard enough, that I was spoiled and lazy.

Being treated that way became the norm for me, so much so that I started treating Mokuba that way too without even realizing that's what I was doing. Any time I did anything that you would consider 'good' I was punished for it." His face darkened and Alistair could only imagine what kinds of 'punishments' Seto had endured. "Because of that, doing the right thing still feels wrong—even if I know that it's not." Alistair's brow creased in concern. He oftentimes foolishly forgot that Seto had not been socialized the same way he had. They caught each other's eye. "I am working on it," Seto added after a pause. "You just have to be patient."

"I understand. And I'm sorry that sometimes I act like I don't think you're trying, but you're very good at being cruel, and as I've told you before: I won't tolerate being treated that way. Not by you, not by anybody."

"Then maybe you need to work on growing thicker skin; I'm not just going to change overnight." Alistair bristled and thought about saying that this wasn't a negotiation when he realized that in fact it was and that he certainly wasn't above having traits he needed to change.

"Maybe I do," he agreed. "Is there anything else you think I should work on?" Seto was taken aback by the sudden turning of the tables, but tried to roll with it.

"Well you do always steal all the blankets…" he said with a smirk and Alistair huffed in annoyance. "Fine. You have this bad habit of acting like you're better than everyone else just because you had a crappy childhood. You may be more worldly than I am, or at least in a different way, but just because you grew up in a war zone and you give change to homeless people that doesn't give you a right to act so sanctimonious. This isn't the Oppression Olympics."

"I don't think I'm better than you," Alistair denied.

"Oh no? Then why do you always insist that the way I live my life is so despicable?"

"Because it is. You pay off the cops so that you can tear around in your car like Domino is your personal racetrack. I'm sorry, but I'd call that despicable."

"They get the extra money, don't they? I mean, it's not like I'm just putting money in some other billionaire's pocket. What I donate is ultimately going towards keeping this city safe, so is it really so bad if I get a little something out of it?"

"It's not ethical, I guess that's what it boils down to." Seto threw his arms out.

"I like to drive fast and have the money to make it happen: crucify me. And no offence, but when was the last time you did anything for someone else? You claim that you live to serve the downtrodden masses, but, and correct me if I'm wrong, it doesn't seem to me like you're actually doing anything more than talking about it. I on the other hand actually do donate money and supply jobs and help secure futures." Alistair wasn't sure whether he felt more offended or ashamed. His cheeks flushed and he shot back with:

"I don't have the kind of power that you do. But if I did I'd—."

"Become a politician?" Alistair set his jaw and clenched his fists and Seto was afraid that perhaps he'd gone too far.

"Are you accusing me of being all talk?" Alistair asked, anger making his voice shake.

"No. What I'm saying is that you spend a lot of time saying 'if I were you things would be so much better' and 'if only I had the resources that you do'. Time you could be spending actually doing something worthwhile like telling me, since you're so brilliant, what it is that you would do if you had the money to do it. Convince me and I can make it happen."

"You're telling me you can't figure that out for yourself?"

"Exactly. I understand that if we see cruelty or wrong that we have the power to stop and do nothing we become sharers in the guilt, but what happens if you have the power to stop something but you don't know how?" Something about Seto's statement struck him as familiar.

"Is that from something?" Seto suddenly realized that the first half of his sentence had indeed been a quote and tried to backtrack.

"That's not important." Alistair stared at him, puzzling over it until he figured out what the brunette was quoting.

"That's from Black Beauty."

"So what?"

"You read it?"

"Obviously."

"Why? You told me so many times you thought the premise was stupid." Seto shrugged.

"It's your favorite book; I figured it might be a good idea to read it."

"Did you like it?" Alistair asked curiously, his posture relaxing.

"Not really, but I can see why you do. Black Beauty's friend, Ginger. I liked her. Up until she gave up anyway; that was pathetic." In truth, the horse had reminded him of himself. She had been mistreated and as a result she'd learned to bite and kick anyone unlucky enough to come too close.

"I can't believe you read that."

"Why? Were you under the impression that I'm illiterate?"

"I was under the impression that you aren't the kind of person to waste valuable time reading a novel when they have a company to run."

"Yeah well, that's not the point. What I'm trying to say is that despite what you and the rest of the world might think I do in fact have the capacity to collaborate and I'm willing to acknowledge that you might have a slightly better understanding of what it is that I could do to make a positive impact on the world than I do."

"And you're sure you didn't undergo electro-shock therapy?"

"For the last time, yes, I'm sure. Now answer the damn question."

"I will, but only if you tell me why you're asking." Seto hesitated before telling the redhead about meeting the group of children playing football in the slums.

"Giving them those season passes felt like giving an unemployed homeless person a meal and then sending them on their way," he finished. "Maybe some people would consider that enough, but I know that those passes aren't going to make a difference to those kids." He sat down at the table again and rested his face in his palms, his memories of the children flashing through his mind. Alistair thought for a moment before speaking.

"When Mikey and I were on the run the only things we had besides the necessities were a locket with my mother's picture in it and his Dino Dude action figure. At first I thought his stupid toy was a waste of space, but then I realized that the times when he was the happiest were when he was playing with it, pretending that he was Dino Dude, come to save everyone. You want my opinion on what you can do to make people's lives better? Give them passes to Kaiba Land and tell them to protect each other."

"That's what I did do," Seto replied, confused.

"That's all you can do. That's all I'd do. A year ago I would have thought differently, told you to pay off their parents' mortgages or put them up in your house, but I've learned a lot in the past year. There's no such thing as a super hero. It's too bad, but it's true. I don't have any money to offer anyone or a magical stone that I can use to recreate paradise, but I can be kind and I can give homeless people my spare change. You can't fix the underlying causes of poverty, but you can encourage those kids to work hard and follow their passions. You can offer them trips to amusement parks and Duel Monsters. You and I were robbed of our innocence, but you have the power to protect theirs, at least for a little while." Seto raised his head.

"And you question whether or not we belong together?" Alistair chose to take the playful route.

"What have you got to offer me in exchange for my infinite wisdom?" Seto smirked.

"Getting to say you're dating Seto Kaiba is pretty damn cool." Alistair's grin was almost as wide as Seto's.

"I'll think about it." But they both knew that a decision had been reached. They'd both gotten off of their chests any remaining feelings of resentment towards each other and Alistair was glad he'd forced the brunette into the discussion. He was confident now that Seto really was taking strides towards becoming better. And he had learned a lesson too: he had a lot of work to do if he wanted to stop himself from becoming the kind of person who did nothing more than talk a good game. His time in Domino had thus far made him selfish; he needed to change that now that his own life was back on track or risk becoming a hypocrite.

Author's Note: Sorry it's been so long since I've updated! But on the bright side I'm completely done writing it: whoo! Thanks for sticking around and I hope that the stunning conclusion that comes in five chapters will have been worth it. If not, I also have some one-shots that I could publish to fill in the blanks.