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Yugi really couldn't be sure who had been more awkward on the phone, him or Kaiba. It had been a quick and stilted thing, a random phone call completely out of the blue one afternoon asking for the best time to set up a meeting. It was especially weird because he hadn't heard from Kaiba in months. Not that they kept up on any regular basis before that, but since their last match they'd grown a bit of civility towards each other. Yugi wouldn't go so far as to call it friendly, though he certainly hoped so. Perhaps this meeting could be the start of a friendship.
With hope that he could finally break through to Kaiba, he walked into Kaiba Corp one Friday afternoon, raring and ready to go. The secretary at the front desk directed him to the elevators. The secretary on the top floor directed him to the conference room. She offered him something to drink and with a cup of tea in hand, Yugi waited.
And waited.
And waited.
A couple times the secretary came back in to check on him and apologize. While Yugi was trying to keep an even temper, he didn't like being kept waiting like this. Not when Kaiba had asked him for this meeting. Any hope he had of securing a tentative friendship with Kaiba was being steadily crushed with each minute he had to wait.
Almost an hour after their original meeting time, Kaiba finally walked in. Yugi was about to snap when he realized that Kaiba was trying to rush off the phone. He also looked terrible. Deep bags under his eyes, his skin was paler than usual, his hair looked greasy and limp, and his eyes were bloodshot. All the hallmarks of severe overwork and exhaustion and suddenly Yugi couldn't be angry.
"Sorry I'm late," Kaiba finally greeted when he hung up. He pulled the earpiece from his ear and stuffed it in his pocket. "There was an HR issue we had to deal with and the meeting went way over what anyone wanted."
"It's no problem," Yugi lied as Kaiba took a seat across from him. "What's going on? I thought I'd be the last person you'd want to talk to."
"Why would you think that?" Kaiba asked, genuinely curious. He opened his briefcase and started rifling through some paperwork. "I actually have a proposition for you. I'd like to put your deck on tour between all my academies. An event for the kids, a morale booster, something nice. Tons of posters, merch, specialized booster packs, the whole nine yards."
The utter shock that placed itself on Yugi's face wasn't going anywhere any time soon, he realized. Kaiba's words sounded dangerously close to a compliment and Yugi couldn't believe it. "My deck? Why?"
"The kids idolize you," Kaiba answered easily, still digging through his briefcase for something. "It'll be a nice event for them. It'll start on Academy Island and then travel to the other four schools. If we send it off in the next couple weeks I can have it back to you by the start of summer."
Yugi still couldn't wrap his brain around it. There had to be some ulterior motive here and the only thing he could think of was, "What tournament are you trying to keep me out of?"
Now it was Kaiba's turn to be shocked. He stopped rustling his papers to look at Yugi like a deer caught in the headlights.
"None!" Kaiba lied easily. "I'm just thinking about the kids."
"Uh-hu." Yugi already had his phone in his hand. A quick Google search had him clicking his tongue. "Oh look. Industrial Illusions is hosting an exhibition tourney. I don't suppose you'll be entering that, Kaiba?"
"You know I don't play anymore," Kaiba muttered and went back to shifting through his papers.
Neither did Yugi, not too much anyway. A few exhibition matches here, an invite there, but on the whole his deck was collecting dust. He was much more focused on running the game shop so his grandpa could finally retire. That left little time for him to go galavanting off on long tournaments. Besides, dueling without Atem didn't feel right. The Pharaoh had put his heart into the cards as much as Yugi had and now it felt like something was missing every time he played.
But Kaiba didn't need to know that. Not when Yugi knew Kaiba missed Atem as much as he did. Maybe more, if that creepy AI had anything to say about it.
"There it is!" Kaiba cried triumphantly as he pulled a packet of papers out of his briefcase and slid it across the table to Yugi. "Everything is noted there in great detail. The projected timeline, insurance policy, security detail, compensation, and at the back is a basic contract for you to sign that basically says you agree to all the above et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.”
“Compensation?” Yugi asked, arching and eyebrow. Indeed, as he scanned the pages, he saw a rather generous figure there in black and white.
“Of course, you thought I’d ask for your deck for free? What do you take me for?” Now that the briefcase was closed, Kaiba slouched in his seat and relaxed for the first time in ages. He leaned on the table with his head propped up on his fist while he fought to keep his eyes open. This was the first negative stress thing he’d done in quite some time. “You can take that home to look over it, I don’t need an answer until the end of next week.”
“Okay, yeah, I hope you don’t mind if my attorney takes a look at it,” Yugi said with a nod as he set the document aside.
“I would think less of you if you didn’t,” Kaiba muttered.
“You should take a nap,” Yugi offered with a chuckle.
“Sleep is for the weak.” Still Kaiba picked his head up and gave Yugi a small nod. “Talk to you next week?”
Yugi mirrored the nod and smiled brightly. “You bet!”
~*~
Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit! Kaiba could have throttled every nitwit security guard he hired. The exhibit hadn’t even opened yet and not only did Yugi’s deck get stolen, it was played by a student and it lost to a Slifer Red! Kaiba couldn’t believe it. He’d sworn up and down to Yugi that his cards would be safe and now that idiot student had made him a liar.
Well. There was no time like the present. Kaiba was forced to swallow his pride and made the trip down to Kame Games. He shouldn’t have been shocked to see that it was busy, the shop had gained a lot of popularity after the KC Grand Championship. He was glad to see it. A small business flourishing was always a good thing.
“Be with you in a sec!” he heard Yugi call as he opened the door and the little bell tinkled.
Kaiba took a deep breath and walked in, gently bonking the top of his head on the doorframe because he forgot to duck. The curse of being over 6’ tall meant he was always hitting his head on standard doorways. It was especially bad because he’d had Kaiba Corp renovated several years ago to raise the height of all the door frames so he didn’t have to duck entering a room. With the manor having larger than standard doorways to begin with, he usually forgot to bow his head before entering most other establishments.
“Seto! Fancy seeing you here!” Yugi called when he finally picked his head up from the cash register. A few of the customers turned to stare and gawk as Kaiba approached the counter. “What can I do for you?”
“Can we talk in private for a minute?” Kaiba asked in a hushed tone.
“Uh, sure, there’s a back office,” Yugi offered. He bid a quick ‘be back soon’ to his customers and ushered Kaiba into the back. There was a nervous energy radiating off him that set Yugi on edge. Kaiba was usually much more in control of himself than that. He closed the door firmly behind him and rounded on the CEO in a second. “What’s going on?”
“There was an incident,” Kaiba said quickly, wanting to get it all over with. “Last night one of the students broke into the exhibit before it opened and. . . he stole your deck, memorized all of your strategies, pretended to be you, and played it against another student. And it lost.”
There was so much to process that Yugi felt his brain was an inch away from blue screening. So he clung to the very last thing Kaiba had said and asked, “Who did it lose to?”
“Hm? Oh, some Slifer Slacker named Jaden Yuki,” Kaiba said dismissively. When he returned focus to Yugi, he found himself stuttering. “Um. Are you okay?”
Yugi was positively beaming. He was so incredibly proud of Jaden it took all his willpower to keep it in. It had been a few years since their duel against Paradox and Yugi knew that Jaden had already graduated when Yusei pulled him back in time. Now it sounded like he was still a student, it would be a couple more years at least for Jaden until that happened. Right now he was a fresh, baby faced student and he’d managed to beat Yugi’s deck. Incredible. He couldn’t have asked for someone better.
“Do you. . . know him?” Kaiba asked tentatively.
“You could say that,” Yugi answered, unable to keep the thousand watt smile off his face. “We’ve met a couple times. He’s a good kid. Good duelist. Great duelist, actually.”
“Really? Because he’s flunking almost every class,” Kaiba snorted.
“Says the guy who dropped out of high school,” Yugi teased. That made Kaiba turn an unhealthy shade of purple in his anger, but before he could blow his top, Yugi cut him off. “Is there a way I could send a letter to Jaden?”
“Whh–Yes?” Kaiba sputtered, all the wind taken out of his sails. “Is this an angry letter? I would rather you direct your anger at me than at a student.”
“No, it’s not angry,” Yugi chuckled. “I’m not mad at all. I’m sure the students got a kick out of watching my deck play. In fact, if you ever want to do this again, why don’t I go with the deck and we set up some exhibition matches. I think the kids would like that.”
Despite his confusion, Kaiba found himself nodding as well. “I also think they’d like that.”