Something about this AU complicates Duelist Kingdom. I'm not sure how to articulate it in any kind of summation, but I think that's what prompted this little section. I don't think canon really hammers home the fact that Pegasus Crawford must have been Seto's hero. I mean, the famous toy tycoon who created his favorite game? Who loves cartoons and provides joy to children?

It's this precise fact that gave me the springboard for my other major "Young Seto Gets Validation" AU, alongside this one. Check out "Kick a Hole in the Sky" if you're at all curious.

I dunno. I just feel like Seto being ten years old when Pegasus shows his true colors would make a pretty big difference. Not to say it was that much easier for 15-year-old Seto to handle that betrayal, but.

Well. Y'know.

.

Mokuba had his hands in the pockets of his slacks, and he looked as smugly satisfied as a car salesman watching someone drive off the lot. "What did I say?" he asked, flashing a grin. "Wait until you see his work." He reached out and ruffled Seto's hair.

"Amazing," Ryo said, breathlessly. "Simply remarkable."

Joey was nodding to himself. He glanced at Mokuba and offered a fist. "We make a good team," he said. "We do the stupid shit and your brother cleans up after us."

Mokuba knocked his knuckles against Joey's, then glanced his brother's way. "Go find some food, kiddo. You've had tunnel vision. I know you haven't been eating as much as you should. Go on. Get."

Seto skipped away, looking like nothing so much as a little peacock, preening himself.

"Remember protein!" Mokuba called out, at the boy's retreating back. He rolled his eyes and ran a hand through his hair. "Why do I get the sneaking suspicion he's going to keel over and faint as soon as he catches a glimpse of Pegasus Crawford?" He didn't miss the way the atmosphere at the table changed immediately. His eyes narrowed to slits. "What?" he asked Yugi, who'd flinched at the man's name. "What is it? You're holding back again."

"I mean." Yugi sighed. Ran a hand through his hair. "I guess you wouldn't know. I don't think most people know. That's kind of how it works with people like that, isn't it?" At Mokuba's questioning look, he went on: "Pegasus Crawford put my grandpa in the hospital. We still don't know what he did, exactly. But if I'm going to help him, if he's ever going to get better, I have to win this tournament. That's the whole reason we're here."

Mokuba twitched, and a low growling sound rumbled in the back of his throat.

"Guessing your kid bro's a big fan," Joey said, carefully.

Mokuba's jaw flexed. "Sweet galloping Christ, if that man fucks up my brother's vacation, I'm going to rearrange his ribcage." He let out a breath through his teeth. "Yes. Seto's a fan." He looked Joey's way. "You just jumped into the fucking ocean with me. I'm extending my hand to you. Is your friend telling the truth?"

Joey nodded. "He is."

Mokuba sighed. "Goddamn it. All right."

"I'm sorry," Yugi said sheepishly.

"Unfortunately," Mokuba said, "this isn't the first time someone my brother admires has turned out to be—" He cut himself off. ". . . Disappointing," he finally said, after an awkward silence. He leaned back, stared at the night sky, and sighed.

Ryo put on a soft, quiet little smile and said: "Raising a little genius is . . . complicated, isn't it?"

"You don't know the half of it." Mokuba shook his head. "It won't surprise any of you to hear that Magic & Wizards is . . . very important to Seto. It's the only way he's able to escape anymore. Everything else he does, no matter what it is, always ends up demanding so much from him." He gestured to Yugi, who'd gathered up his Exodia cards and was now studying them more closely. "Just look at those. I know you can't imagine how much precision, what a keen eye for detail, it took for him to do that. If you put a gun to my head and told me to recreate his work, I'd tell you to shoot my ass and get it over with. I can't. You can't. Nobody can."

Yugi nodded. He pulled up another card from his dueling deck and set it with the others. "I can't see anything. Not a single flaw. They feel the same, they look the same. They're pristine." He looked up at Mokuba. "If not for the fact that I'm sure you guys don't need the money, I'd say he should pursue this professionally. I can only guess how much he could bring in. My grandpa would hire him right now if he could see these. He'd get a loan on the house just to put together a signing bonus if that's what it took to get your brother sitting behind that counter, offering to repair our customers' ruined cards."

"Precisely." Mokuba gesticulated randomly. "No matter what he does, it can be literally anything, it'll be on a level that you'd expect from a grown man. But he's not a grown man, and nobody knows how to treat him like it. Even he doesn't. Dueling is the only thing that gets him to be a kid anymore, and . . . and now this." Mokuba groaned. "You've seen the holograms people are using for televised dueling, right? The ones that are gonna be used on a wide scale at this tournament? For the first time? You know about that, right?"

"Yeah," Yugi said. "Yeah, we heard. I'll be honest: I'm not exactly happy to be participating in this tournament, considering . . . everything, but I've been looking forward to that part. Absolutely."

"Did you know," Mokuba pressed, "that my brother is the one who came up with the technology? Solid Vision is Seto's magnum opus. It's his golden egg. It's going to revolutionize entertainment, I'd put everything on it, and . . . my little brother made it. Seto. My little Seto. He . . . he did that."

Joey hesitated, then reached out and patted Mokuba's shoulder. "I'm not gonna pretend I get it," he said. "But I think if my sister had that kind of pressure on her, I'd prob'ly be pulling out my hair. My fingernails, too. So, you're doing pretty good, all things considered."

Mokuba grunted. "I'm proud of him. I'm so proud of him that it hurts. But I wish things would just work out for once. Why couldn't my brother's hero be a decent man? Why couldn't he be the altruist he pretends to be? Why can't one rich asshole on this planet not be an asshole?"

Téa smiled. "I mean, you're pretty nice, when you want to be."

Mokuba scoffed. "Please. Give me a break. You just watched my stupid ass pitch myself into the ocean, and I dragged a friend of yours with me."

"To help me," Yugi added. "I'm not going to pretend I like that you two did that, but . . . I feel like that context is important."

"Besides," Joey said, "if there's too many rich assholes in the world, then all you gotta do is not add to the list. Maybe take away a few of 'em. Y'know. Philanthropy."

"Are you suggesting I assassinate my peers, Wheeler."

"You telling me you wouldn't do it?"

Mokuba opened his mouth. Closed it.

Silence fell.

"Joey," Téa said, hands on her hips. "You aren't helping."

"It's just a suggestion! Problem-solving! You have to put all your options on the table!"

Yugi put a smile on his face. "I think . . . well. I'm not going to pretend that we're going to be able to convince Pegasus Crawford to turn over a new leaf. I'm not that much of an optimist. But I think there's probably a way to get through this without breaking your brother's heart. If there is, we'll find it. Together."

Mokuba eyed Yugi silently for a while.

Then he offered a smile of his own.

". . . Thanks," he said.