I Should Have Helped
What Happens Now?
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I Should Have Helped…
HAPPENS NOW?
as he rushed out the door. “Can’t talk now – Seto’s in his office! Bye!”
Pegasus looked after him, bemused, as he stepped inside
the mansion and let the door close behind him. Mokuba had accepted him as part
of Seto’s life perfectly willingly, after approximately half a tantrum that had
seemed to enumerate every horrible thing Pegasus had ever done to either of
them (that he knew about), touch on the age difference, and involve the phrase
“what will everyone else think?!” at least twice. Seto’s answer to all of it
had been “I don’t care,” – and that had put an end to that. In time, Mokuba had
actually come to realize that, when he wasn’t trying to kill anyone or anything
similar, Pegasus could be a pretty fun guy.
Pegasus efficiently navigated the labyrinthine
mansion that still had nothing on his castle. Maybe he could convince Seto to
move there with him… no, he wouldn’t want to be so far from work. Not that he
actually needed to be there every day or anything, but he still insisted. Even
now, he was working. Pegasus could tell the difference between work and
relaxation by the way he was singularly focused on the computer screen before
him; he didn’t even notice the door opening. His furious and, of course,
mistake-free typing was another indication. Thirdly, on those rare occasions
when Seto would relax instead of work at a computer, his posture would suffer,
often leaving him slouched in his chair; now, his back was ramrod-straight.
He was still as beautiful as he had been every time he
had seen him before, if a little more focused, as he tended to be when working.
And he was doing a lot better now… True, he had a penchant for making love with
his eyes always open, and he had nightmares, but you could even see in his
posture, his bearing… the fact that he was no longer twenty pounds underweight…
that he was doing better. It made his heart happy to see it.
After a moment of fond inspection, a small smile
playing about his lips, Pegasus let the door fall softly closed and walked
apparently unnoticed behind Seto, leaning over him, placing one arm around his
stiff shoulders, the other pressing against the desk beside the keyboard to
hold himself up. Seto didn’t pause, but he did turn his head very quickly to
give him a chaste kiss, eyes not leaving the screen.
“You know, Seto,” he said, “you run a company for a
reason. It’s so that you can pay people to do your work for you.”
“Which is why KaibaCorp will always be at least one
step ahead of Industrial Illusions,” Seto said, straight-faced but joking, a
fact which would be apparent to probably Mokuba and Pegasus and no one else in
the world.
“I can settle for second place,” Pegasus said
evenly. “Especially when my personal life is so much more fulfilling.”
“You do yourself an injustice.”
Pegasus smiled a little and rested his head on
Seto’s shoulder, watching the words appear as if by magic. His hand left the
desk and wormed into his pocket. “How are you doing?” he asked, idly playing
with Seto’s hair. “Without the pills?”
Seto shrugged. “It’s… okay, I guess… Better than I would
have done six months ago… Better than I would ever have done before.” Still not
good though. Pegasus had seen him sometimes, having to stop whatever he was
doing and just stay there for a moment, his eyes closed and breathing deeply as
he fought back the memories. “What about you? Sober?”
“Completely,” he said, not without a hint of
dryness. “Regrettably…”
Seto ignored the humor. “For how long?” His fingers
continued typing, his eyes focused immovably on the screen. Thus it was that he
missed the elder man’s exasperated eye roll.
“Two months. The same as the last time you asked me,
plus the intervening time.”
“Good.”
So serious… In Pegasus’ esteemed opinion, the boy
needed to lighten up. Watch a cartoon. Play a game that wasn’t for the fate of
the world. Or at least get deliriously happy for a few months.
“What do you say you take a break from that dreary
old work?” he suggested, withdrawing his hand from his pocket finally. “For a
month or so.”
“I say you’re insane,” Seto snorted. He glanced down
as he heard a quiet thunk, and froze for a moment as he saw the glittering ring
in the box Pegasus held.
“Of course, insanity is catching…” he murmured, and
turned around in Pegasus’ grip to wrap his arms around him and kiss him.