"How was it?"
Tea hadn't expected Seto to be home, let alone awake and the surprise made her jump back and gasp. One thing about Seto was he was very difficult to get a reaction out of, while this would have made any other boy or man his age gleeful, he simply cocked an eyebrow at her.
"Seto! Don't do that." she breathed.
"Do what, speak?" he asked, there was a playfulness in his voice which would have come across as sarcastic to the others, Tea knew. Or maybe he was being sarcastic and at this point she was too far gone to care. She looked at him and her heart began to melt. His skin was tinged gold from whatever hot country this recent business trip had been in, it made him as though he was glowing.
"Well now that you mention it.." she trailed off, smiling widely at him. She closed the door after herself. "It was good." she said, finally answering his question, her fingers danced at his wrist until he opened his hand to them, surrendering himself to her touch. "You should have come."
He smirked, his fingers tightening around hers, he pulled her in, his other hand came to the small of her back. She could feel the warmth radiating off of him, she could smell him- his scent calming her soul. "Is that so, Gardener?" he murmured, his face on the top of her head, she felt him inhale deeply and it eased her, to know she had been missed. "Your reunion was that boring you thought you should have brought me along to antagonize Yugi?"
Tea smiled softly. "Yes because it's Yugi you like to antagonize." she said sarcastically as their eyes met. "Joey was fine, by the way."
There was some irritation on Seto's face and Tea couldn't hold back a chuckle. Some things people just didn't seem to grow out of, and the rivalry between Seto and Joey was harmless enough at this point, with Seto contributing financially to Joey's baby project and KaibaCorp hosting competitions and donating gaming items, she knew Seto could never bring himself to say he admired Joey, or what he was doing, but his actions betrayed his apparent dislike of Joey.
"And the other one?"
Seto's pitch had changed ever so slightly and she felt him tense. If this had been two years ago when they had just began courting one another, just began to realise, away from the prying eyes of her friends and the judging looks of his colleagues, that there was more between them. Over the years their paths had continued to cross and at first it had filled Tea confusion. She had bumped into him at an airport ice-cream shop before her flight. She remembered it like it was yesterday. The surprise to see him eating pistachio flavoured ice-cream on his own, no bodyguards or Mokuba. It was like watching an arm floating in thin air without the rest of the body. Their eyes had met, her eyes wide and his seeming unbothered, if it hadn't been the elongated eye contact she would have been sure from his expression that he hadn't recognized her. She had nodded at him and looked away. After all, if he wanted to speak to her, he would have to actually make the effort himself.
"Yami was fine as well." she answered, her eyes closing. She didn't feel anything, but she knew he was watching her, and that made her nervous. It made her think the slightest chance of a change of expression and he would read into it.
Seto Kaiba was many things, vulnerable was not usually one of them and insecurity didn't suit his usually confident self. It was the last thing she wanted to see on him.
There was a moment of silence.
"I see." he murmured, his hands both coming to rest on her hips, pulling her flush against him. She looked up, her eyes fluttering open and felt his lips brush against hers once, twice and on the third time he finally pressed firmly against them, kissing her properly. Her hand lifted to his face and one of his found itself in her hair.
This was forever, she knew it was.
She shut her eyes tightly, trying not to think of Yami's eyes staring straight at her, his hand brushing against her arm to stop her from leaving..
She opened her eyes, Seto had pulled back. "Tell me the truth." he said quietly.