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The evening had settled during Kaiba’s duel with Joey, and even though he had thoroughly trounced him, Seto still couldn’t quell the unease that churned his stomach. It had been a great many days since he had seen his younger brother, and while he knew Pegasus wouldn’t hurt Mokuba so long as Pegasus knew that he, Seto, was still alive, the disquiet he felt throughout his entire being was unrelenting. He made his way towards the castle in the center of Duelist Kingdom (“What a completely idiotic and lazy name for an island whose sole purpose is to host duelists,”) in long strides, his briefcase swinging rhythmically with his every step keeping him grounded in the moment, even as his thoughts ran errant.
Was Mokuba being treated well? He doubted it; the hospitality the Duel Monsters mogul displayed for those who came to the island to duel was a farce created to lure Yugi into a false sense of security. Mokuba was not a guest. He was a prisoner. A bargaining chip for Pegasus in his conquest for KibaCorp. The thought of his brother, the most important person in the whole world, in some dingy dungeon made Seto sick to his stomach.
“Seto Kaiba.”
The young man was startled into a stop by a large bodyguard who seemed to materialize out of thin air. With a deep frown, he addressed the man.
“What do you want?”
“Master Pegasus has been expecting you. He has asked me to escort you to him.”
Kaiba replied, “How is it that Pegasus knew I was here?” His mind was racing, trying to fathom just how Pegasus had discovered him so quickly, completely ruining the element of surprise Seto had hoped to hold as long as possible.
The burly man smirked. “Master Pegasus knows everything that goes on on this island,” he said, not bothering to keep the mocking tone from his words; Seto felt his lips pull up into a sneer.
“Of course he does.” He said it to himself more than to his unpleasant companion, who simply stared at him until he nodded his acquiescence to being guided to the object of his hate-lust.
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The rest of the walk to Pegasus’ castle was spent in silence, which was just fine with Kaiba. The brutish man leading him seemed to be more brawn than brain, and the possibility of having a conversation worth remembering with him seemed an unlikely occurrence. The ornate front door opened as they approached without any provocation from his companion, which made him believe that someone, if not Pegasus himself, was tracking their approach, an idea that made him more uncomfortable than he would have admitted aloud. They entered the foyer and encountered no one, adding to Seto’s unease.
“Give me your briefcase.”
Snapping to attention, Kaiba clutched his case so that his knuckles turned white. “No, I think I’ll keep it, thanks.”
The burly man scowled. “Master Pegasus’ orders. Give it here.”
Kaiba took a defiant step backwards, his chin jutting up into the air, his shoulders tense and his teeth clenched.
“Come now, Kaiba-boy, be reasonable. The man is just trying to do his job.”
Seto’s already dour mood took a turn for the worse as his host’s voice echoed from all around him, likely from hidden speakers; leave it to Maximillion Pegasus to have a surveillance and speaker system hooked up so he could spy on people as they first came into his home.
“What do you want from me, Pegasus,” the young man asked, scanning the room in an effort to find a camera.
“Pleasantries before business, dear boy,” Pegasus’ voice chided, the waggle of his finger evident in his tonality, “give my guard your bag and greet me properly; only then may we speak on your presence here.”
A thick silence fell as Kaiba considered his options (of which he had very few); there were fewer possibilities yet that might yield something favorable. Running wasn’t in his nature, and while he could hold his own in a fight, there was the high probability that there were more of Pegasus’ goons laying in wait. With a defeated sigh, he shoved his case at the guard. “Good evening, Pegasus,” he said with as much venom he felt he could get away with.
His host chuckled, still unseen. “Good evening, young Seto,” he purred, satisfaction dripping from his voice like honey, “and how might you be today?”
“Oh, I’ve been far better, Pegasus,” the teen ground out, teeth gritted. “Now would you tell me what you want?” There was a long pause as Seto waited for a reply; after about a minute, Pegasus cleared his throat. Kaiba sighed and ran an agitated hand through his hair. “Please.”
“Why, certainly, Kaiba-boy!” The mirth in Pegasus’ voice was enough to make Seto clench his jaw. “I have a proposal for you.”
“Well? I’m listening.”
“Oh, you’re so impatient, Kaiba-boy. Well, if you insist, I’ll tell you.”
Another pause.
“Please. I insist.”
“How delightful!” Seto scowled, opening his mouth to bite back a reply, but was cut off by Pegasus continuing. “My proposal is this, Kaiba-boy: have dinner with me and Mokuba will not come to any more harm than he already has."
"What do you mean by that?" Fists clenched, Seto began scanning the room for any trace of where the millionaire might be hiding.
"Well, as with any delivery system, my acquisition of your dear brother may have caused a few dings; nothing that can't be buffed out by some brotherly love, I'm sure."
"I swear to you, Pegasus, I will - "
"Yes, yes, I know. You'll inflict bodily harm upon me if your precious Mokuba is injured. I can assure you that the boy is in fine physical health; his mental state, however, is something a bit beyond my grasp."
"How so?"
"It would seem that being abandoned by his big brother has left poor Mokuba more of a broken boy than anything else. You really shouldn't have left him all by himself like that, Kaiba-boy."
Seto stared stonily at his feet, knowing that the older man's words were true. Leaving Mokuba, in hindsight, was the worst choice he could have made. His brother was an innocent victim in all of this; he played no part in his loss to Yugi, and Kaiba still abandoned him so that he could go on a journey to “find himself”, which, if he was honest with himself, sounded like some hippie bullshit Yugi would spout. Kaiba scowled, muttering, “I just have to eat dinner with you and you’ll let him go?”
“That’s right, Kaiba-boy.”
“How do I know you’re not lying to me?”
“Scouts honor.” Kaiba’s eye twitched. “You will get your brother back with no strings attached.”
While he didn’t have much of a choice, Seto still paused, considering some other course of action. The urge to run had grown stronger, but he knew that doing so wouldn’t achieve anything. He’d still be without Mokuba, and Pegasus would undoubtedly take pleasure from his fleeing like a scared dog. Kaiba sighed in resignation. “Fine. But don’t think for a second that I’ll enjoy it. I’m only doing this for Mokuba.”
“Oh, fantastic!” The excitement in the older man’s voice was undeniable, which gave Seto pause; anything that could give Pegasus so much joy was bound to be trouble for him, and yet he felt obligated to ignore the nervousness that settled over him for his brother’s sake. “Follow Kemo to the dining room post haste; dinner is on the table.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The food on Seto’s plate was cooked to perfection, which made him suspicious; not many people knew how he liked his steak served, even those with whom he dined consistently. He was not one to overindulge in his favorite habits, after all. It was entirely possible that this was just some fluke and that Pegasus had no clue that medium-rare, bacon wrapped filet mignon with scallops was the way to Seto’s heart, but the queasy feeling that sat in his stomach made Seto believe otherwise. There was something strange about his host, something that he’d noticed the first time they met, but he couldn’t figure it out for the life of him.
Pegasus smiled as if he could hear Seto’s thoughts running amuck. “I trust everything is to your satisfaction, Kaiba-boy?” His voice was saccharine, dripping with humor that Seto didn’t understand.
“It’s fine.” Keeping his voice as neutral as possible was proving to be a challenge. There was so much he wanted to say that he knew would get him into trouble.
“Oh, good. I was hoping you’d like it. It took the chef forever to get it just right.” Pegasus dabbed at his lips like a dainty grandmother, his one visible eye steady on Seto’s face. “I know how difficult it can be to please you, Seto Kaiba, which is why I have gone to such great lengths.”
Kaiba’s fingers fumbled his fork, the steak that had been skewered upon it landing with a soft squish onto his lap. Pegasus clicked his tongue.
“Now, now, Kaiba-boy, you really must be more careful. You may ruin your good clothes.” Kaiba grit his teeth, his brow furrowing as he directed his gaze to the piece of food that now resided on the floor. “If you spill anything else, I will have to insist that you remove your clothes so that they might be cleaned.”
An angry scoff escaped Seto’s throat. “The last thing I’ll do in front of you is take off even an article of clothing, Pegasus.”
Chuckling, Pegasus reclined in his chair, taking his wineglass in hand. “Oh, Kaiba-boy, you make it sound so lewd when you say it like that.” The amusement in the older man’s voice baited Seto into looking back up; mirth was etched on the millionaire's face, the smirk on his lips showing no sign of leaving, and the glint in his eye was enough to make the elder Kaiba rise from his seat with such force that he almost upset the table.
“I will not be treated in such a manner, Pegasus,” the boy declared, slamming his fist down next to his plate, knocking his wineglass over and spilling red wine all over the white table cloth, “tell me where Mokuba is and let us leave! I do not have time for your silly games!”
With a sigh, Pegasus put down his wineglass. “It pains me to see you waste such perfectly good wine, Kaiba-boy. I bought that especially for you.”
“I don’t care if you bought it for the Emperor! I’m not drinking anymore of your damn wine and I’m not going to eat anymore of your food! Tell me where Mokuba is!”
Seto’s chest heaved, his anger abating as Pegasus’ face turned somber, pride seeping into his veins; the fact that he wiped the smirk off of the other man’s face was an accomplishment, indeed, and something he could take pride in.
“Oh, Kaiba-boy. Sometimes I forget that you are just a child with an inherited fortune; nothing else would excuse your ghastly behavior.”
The scowl returned to Kaiba’s face and the smirk to Pegasus’s. With no small amount of righteous fury, Seto stomped across the room to where Pegasus sat at the far end of the table and shoved his face into the other man’s.
“Tell me where my brother is.”
Raising his eyebrows, Pegasus turned his gaze onto the teen’s lips, which only served to enrage Seto further; before he could say anything in protest, however, Pegasus rose from his seat, forcing Seto to take a step back.
“I do so love when you’re forceful, Kaiba-boy,” said Pegasus, reaching a hand up to gently cup the younger man’s face, “your anger suits you.”
In what seemed to Kaiba both an eternity and the blink of an eye, Pegasus’s lips fell upon his in a searing, dominating kiss. In the brief (it must have been brief, as Seto couldn’t react fast enough to push the older man off of him,) moment of contact, he couldn’t help but notice that Pegasus’s breath tasted like the wine they were drinking.
“Something wrong, Kaiba-boy?”
Pulling himself from his shocked reprieve, Seto glared at the man who was now standing on the other side of the table. “How dare you,” he breathed, his whole body shaking with rage, “how dare you kiss me so improperly and with that disgusting wine on your breath! That is no way to treat Seto Kaiba!”
“Would you have me rectify the situation?”
Kaiba blanched. “Just tell me where Mokuba is!"
Clicking his tongue once more, Pegasus strolled back towards Seto, who, to his credit, stood tall and looked as demanding as he could. "I would hate to leave you dissatisfied, Kaiba-boy. Let me see those lips of yours again; I promise I won't disappoint."
With his chin held defiantly in the air, Seto took a step back and crossed his arms over his chest. "Get away from me, you disgusting - you horrible - " Pegasus laughed as he struggled with his words, serving only to infuriate him more.
"Come now, Kaiba, don't be such a child. You said you wanted a proper kiss. Don't be so contrary."
"I am not contrary."
"Yes, you are."
"I am not."
"You are, I am loathe to say."
"I'll show you contrary."
Seto proceeded to show Pegasus the proper way to kiss someone, closing the gap between them and pulling Pegasus as close as he could. He held him there for a few good seconds, not one hundred percent sure of what he should be doing, exactly; he'd only been kissed on the cheek before, so this wasn't his area of expertise, but he'd be damned if he let Pegasus knew that. After all, what else could really be involved in locking lips? It seemed simple enough.
Shoving Pegasus away, Kaiba wiped his mouth on the back of his hand. "How was that for a kiss?"
Pegasus gave the boy a simpering smile. "Well, you certainly showed me." The sarcasm that dripped from his voice held the promise of future meetings of this nature, if not for his amusement, then to educate poor little Seto Kaiba. The game had just begun.