kittensinboxes | To Be Endlessly Cold Within [Rivalshipping, Vampire AU]

To Be Endlessly Cold Within [Rivalshipping, Vampire AU]

It had taken some time to get used to living a new life as a vampire. For someone who actively decried the supernatural, it wasn't easy to admit that he'd been overcome by some creature of the night in anything outside of a nightmare.

But he had ended up like this nearly half a year ago, waking up hospitalized with what looked like some kind of lesions at the joint of his neck and shoulder. From that point, it was only a matter of time before he shifted to his new reality. Trying to suppress it out of sheer force of will had only worked out so long, and deflecting his thirst onto a natural human cause had nearly ended in him attacking his brother. That was the last straw.

That was when Seto Kaiba gave in and took the first drink.

He had to, of course, curate his inner circle slightly--tell the ones most important to him what exactly his new life would entail. Mokuba...well, while he hadn't fully intuited it, had been concerned about his brother ever since the hospital stay. How could he not be? Seto had gradually lost color, energy, and most concerningly, weight since he'd been discharged. He barely ate and looked discomforted when he did, and drank liquids constantly. Honestly, figuring out Seto's needs had been jarring, but ultimately relieving.

Isono was the only other person who knew. He was the one responsible for acquiring blood for his boss, and he did so admirably. Kaiba never fed from the vein, no matter what. Even when his jaw ached around others, and his fangs itched in his skull, he'd instead bite down on something else. He kept a solid rubber ball in his desk for such occasions, and it didn't feel right, but at least with his bagged alternatives, he was doing alright.

Isono and Mokuba had floated the idea to him of perhaps feeding on small animals, and while the thought of it had made his fangs stretch past his lower lip and made his stomach twist as if he'd been starving for all his life...he declined. He didn't need it. There were other things to attend to.

And so he never really regained his weight despite a regular diet of blood.

But at least the company was running smoothly. Seto fought the urge to take a fully nocturnal sleep schedule, and instead positioned himself between worlds. He'd come into work around midnight, well before the sun rose, and leave once it had set. Work meetings were scheduled past dusk. Probably the most expensive alteration needed was to slowly have his office windows altered with UV blocking, the tinting of which could be controlled automatically with a single remote. He mostly kept the tinting at a lower level, so he could still enjoy the sun's brightness without harming himself.

His acclimations weren't perfect. Sometimes he ended up burning himself. Sometimes, the hunger was triggered by proximity to his employees...but for the most part, Kaiba had fallen into a holding pattern. Not yet fully healthy by vampire standards, but also not withering away.

Today, Kaiba was to be participating briefly in orientation for a very small handful of new hires. Isono would bring them up, to show them who they would be working for and have Kaiba offer a few words as he often did while he judged the merit of the hires individually. He always thought it unnecessary, but what he thought, and what was actually done? Those were two different things.

The first two hires went through their orientation interview without incident. Kaiba wasn't terribly impressed, but they'd do as entry to mid-level workers. Nothing really extraordinary to be brought to the the table.

He taps the logo on his lapel.

"Isono. Bring in the last candidate, and then prepare lunch," he ordered.

"Yes, Master Seto!"

The third candidate...they better be worth something.

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Yuugi glanced down, eyes soft.

In a way, it was humbling that Mokuba considered him a part of the inner circle consisting of him, Isono, and Kaiba. They were friends, and he hadn't considered just how isolated the younger Kaiba actually was in comparison to the rest of the world--

But...

"I know. You had every right to worry. But...your brother is strong. Even when he was at his absolute lowest, he refused to give up on his principles."

A pause.

"I wish I knew what happened that made him like that, though. Did something happen before...?"

Pretty darn isolated, to have more adult friends than kid friends, huh? But Mokuba's not complaining about his lot, he understands the pressures his brother's under, and wants to alleviate them as much as possible.

That being said...when Yuugi asks what could have happened, Mokuba shifts his weight from one leg to the other, arms still crossed as he rolls his eyes.

"He had to entertain last night, and I thiiink...well, uh. You know, he's a vampire, and they don't really need to eat, so whenever he has a night meeting and someone wants to do dinner..."

"...Th'n I hhhave to play al'ng," Kaiba mutters, his words slurred. The paralytic is starting to wear off, but he still sounds ridiculous. "Stupid..."

He's not calling anyone in the room stupid in particular. Mokuba actually gets it, and he lets out an annoyed sigh.

"Yeah so remember that meeting I said he had, with the guy we don't like? He's American, and he likes to do over-the-top stuff while he's visiting. Like fancy omakase and drinks, apparently" Mokuba said with a frown on his face. "Bro, I don't know why you entertain that guy! He's annoying!"

"Bus'ness," Seto responds grouchily. Industrial Illusions was another gaming giant, the one that created and distributed Duel Monsters. Of course Kaiba has to collaborate, his Solid Vision is meant to work in tandem with the game!

"So eating human food makes him...thin? He looked so pale, like he was starving and hadn't eaten properly for days. Is it something like Celiac Disease, where eating gluten will make the body starve itself?"

Well, that definitely crossed eating burgers off the list.

...

Come to think of it, could vampires eat food if there was blood in it? Like blood soup, or some kind of congealed blood or blood products? Or did it have to be fresh blood like out of a blood pack or a human?

Was it possible to make a man a blood gazpacho with blood sausage?

Asking for a Yuugi Mutou who hopes his friend can eat better than literal copper liquid.

"Reminds me of when I would duel in American tournaments. Mr. Pegasus always liked doing weird things and I still don't understand what the appeal was meant to be."

"No, it usually doesn't, actually. But..."

Mokuba flicks a look over to Seto, as if seeking permission to explain. Sure, he could leave it to Seto himself, but he's still kind of working on flexing his fingers, and he sounds bad. Mokuba could do it, if he got the nod...

"Mmh," is his brother's response, with a purposeful look that Mokuba reads as just that.

"...without circulation, stuff tends to bog down a lot in the body. Half a meal's more than enough, a full meal can get him sick. And Pegasus wanted a whole 15 course sushi set apparently, it's real dumb. Then there's the drinks, and again, without actual circulation, it hits harder.

I think Bro just got sick from it, he was being pretty loud last night."

"Mokubaaaaa..."

"You were! I could hear you yakking for like ten whole minutes!"

Ah yes. Dignified terminology for a dignified businessman. Truly Mokuba was still a kid, with kid vocabulary.

So without proper circulation, vampires can't really eat human food without getting sick. Half a meal? Perfectly fine. But a whole one?

Much less a 15 course omakase? That would murder the body no matter what kind of monster you were.

"Honestly, I'd probably get sick from a 15 course set and I'm not even a vampire..." Yuugi mumbled.

But then again, he preferred things simple and greasy. Burgers and fries, bar food and fried chicken. Typical young guy foods.

"But thank you. That gives me some ideas."

Please don't ask what kind of ideas. You might get a ramble about blending blood with real foods. And doing nice things for vampires because Kaiba was his friend now, no takesy-backsies.

Mokuba sticks his tongue out, one eye closed.

"Yeah 15 pieces is way too many! I like sushi but that's too much! I should've gone with him, then it would have been better. I feel like--"

"Hmmmn," Kaiba grumbles, pushing himself up unsteadily. His arm trembles under the weight, but he manages. It's getting better...sort of. "Like what, Mokuba? Like I'm doin' my job?"

There's still a little bit of slurring, but overall, Kaiba's speech pattern is improving.

"If I don't do what's needed, then...we'll lose our contract. Distribution's too...too important."

Mokuba nods, but he doesn't look so sure about it.

"Yeah, but...you always let him convince you to keep going, even when you can't."

"I do that with everyone. Remember Ishida?"

"Uhh, yeah I remember Ishida. That was your first time since the change and he drank you under the table!"

Stop! Telling disparaging stories! To the new guy!!! Kaiba is begging, but with his eyes, for Mokuba to please stop. Furthermore:

"What ideas? Don't even try," Kaiba says with a frown. "'M doing just fine."

Hmmm...

From what they were saying, Kaiba was too permissive of Pegasus. And it did seem that way: KaibaCorp had Solid Vision, one of the greatest gaming innovations.

Shouldn't Pegasus Crawford be begging Seto Kaiba for a chance to use his tech, rather than demanding accommodations on his dime?

For a moment, Yuugi did not look convinced.

Something seemed off with that.

"Oh, uh... you know."

Best not think about it for now. He laughed, scratching his head.

"A lot of food is made using blood! And since we're friends now, I want to find ways to can still eat food and taste things without too much issue."

"Friend...?"

Kaiba pulls a scowl, averting his gaze.

"Don't waste your time, Mutou. That sort of thing isn't necessary. Do you really think I would want more to eat after what happened last night?"

Isono cleared his throat and looked away. It wasn't as if he was doing much anyway, not after he shot Kaiba, but that was mostly to not draw attention to himself. Now, he was kind of giving judgmental, and Seto can tell.

Mokuba on the other hand...the look on his face was openly judgmental. Brother please...

Yuugi met that scowl with a disarming but shy little smile.

"I don't think it's a waste of time to help a friend. And you can't say we're not."

It took a special kind of man to roll with the punches when it came to Kaiba's prickliness, but when you played games together, you learned about a person.

And he liked what he saw so far.

"We met on the playing field and faced each other head-on. You always said that the strongest connections were formed on the dueling field, after all."

That was during a speech where he also said that his opponents weren't his friends because none were at his level, but Yuugi wasn't going to go into the weeds with that.

Besides. There was a connection.

They were friends now; he just knew it.

Kaiba knows when his words are being parroted against him, and he's not amused by it.

"You can think what you like about it. The game was nothing more than that--a game."

He tries to push himself up into a sitting position and succeeds, sighing in aggravation because his body still doesn't feel quite right. He knows Mokuba's glaring at him, he can feel it, but this is something that Kaiba needs to draw a boundary about. Yuugi isn't going to hop into his life and make himself cozy like a clingy little bird who thinks its found its forever home.

"...It was a good game though," he concedes, at least that he will admit.

"Mm-hmm. It sure was."

He knew by now that Kaiba was...a very standoffish person. He kept others at arm's length and only seemed to be close to a few people. His reaction was expected.

"If you ever want to play again, you know where to find me."

In his apartment or at his desk, working away.

"Right."

Kaiba takes a deep breath...then forces himself to his feet.

"I have to get to work. I'm already late. Isono!"

"Yes, Master Seto!" Isono is on top of it immediately, even giving a quick one hand salute before making his way to the door. Looks like today's gonna be a long one...but maybe after he drops Seto off at the building he can catch a few winks, and it had been an emergency, so he's very understanding of why Mokuba had called him.

Before he follows, Seto turns towards Yuugi and with only a moment's hesitation...

"Thank you for the meal. And the game."

Then he's off.

Mokuba crosses his arms as his brother leaves after Isono. He knows he won't be able to stick around long himself, so...he just turns to Yuugi and shakes his head.

"He's gonna be like that forever, y'know," he informs the man. "My bro doesn't do friendship. But thanks for babysitting him anyway!"

And he grins, because he knows Seto heard that. The grin doesn't last long though.

"Do you need a day off? I can make it happen."

Dinner and a game, huh...?

"I'll be okay, I think," Yuugi shook his head. "I am feeling a lot better. I don't know what your brother did, but I feel better than I have in at least a week."

Besides...

He wanted to get back to normalcy as quickly as possible. If he stayed home, he'd end up thinking.

And if he ended up thinking...

Well.

"I'll let you know if I feel sick, though, okay?"

Now that they're alone, Mokuba allows himself to take comfort in Yuugi's words and attitude, especially because hey, he does look a lot better. He worries Mokuba a lot ever since they'd met, which wasn't that long, but then...Mokuba worries about Seto a lot.

It's just his lot in life, to have people he cares about worry him incessantly. Guess Yuugi belongs here after all.

"Alright, well...you oughta get some sleep then, because it's 1 in the morning. And, uh. I hope you're ready for tomorrow because Pegasus still isn't gone. His flight's not until 10pm, so he'll probably be around the office."

Mokuba frowns with a sigh.

"He likes headhunting sometimes. Y'know, in case anyone good's working for us, he'll try to convince them to leave. It doesn't always work, but sometimes..."

They'd lost several good employees that way. Some which Mokuba hadn't realized were discontent among the ranks. It frustrated him, because, well...he thought that he'd been doing a good job offsetting the stress levels at KaibaCorp, but apparently not.

Yuugi was good at getting others to worry about him, sadly. It was his lot in life to be around others who worried about him.

He saluted Mokuba with a carefree wink.

"Aye aye, sir. I'll be there bright and early."

Though... headhunting, huh...? He'd need to keep his head down, because working at KC was his dream, and nobody was going to tear that away from him.

Nobody.

--

That was what he thought as he slept, that was what he thought as he woke up, and that was what flitted in his mind as he sat down at his desk, fresh cup of coffee in his hand.

Gods, he had so much he had to catch up on since he was out sick....

Today was gonna be a day. For both Kaiba brothers, in fact. After getting home, Seto's first course of action was to get out of his downright filthy bedclothes,

(you try running across half the city in pajamas and see how they fare)

wash up, and immediately get dressed for work. Today was a suit-and-tie kind of day, but he brings his usual coat anyway, and the bracers are always compulsory, they're functional, fuck everyone else.

Mokuba gets to sleep in for a few hours, but Kaiba's chauffered to work by Isono by 2:30, at which point he goes through the lengthy process of opening by himself. He doesn't make Isono help him, because he can turn on some damn lights by himself

(it's a lot of lights)

...And the truth is, he wants the distraction. Usually he does this on his own anyway, because Kaiba Corporation is his, and he can't send emails out before bank hours all the time, or else people might get suspicious. Or...maybe they wouldn't, because Seto Kaiba is a madman, but either way.

By the time Yuugi's shown up, Kaiba has sent out all of his emails and is in the middle of reading over a proposed budget for updating the Duel Disk system.

And by reading...that means he's basically fallen asleep on his keyboard, holding the paper up.

A floor-wide email gets sent out to Yuugi's working floor from the CEO, but it doesn't make much sense.

aaaAAAAAADDDDDDFFFFF

...Someone should check on that guy. Isono's probably the guy to check on that guy but if another guy wants to...well.

"Hey, do you think Mr. Kaiba's... okay?"

Yuugi sighed at the... email sent to his team with a shake of his head. Did his fingers slip on the keys? Or maybe he sent something on accident?

"Oh," he smiled at his coworker with an awkward scratch of his cheek. "Maybe Mr. Kaiba has a cat? He seems like the type to have one."

No, he was the cat.

An angy vampire cat that was really fun to play games with.

Maybe... he was hungry? How often did vampires eat anyway?

"Mutou?"

"Huh? Oh, sorry. I was just thinking. I uh. I'm going to um. Use the bathroom."

...

And text Mokuba to check in on his brother. He could grab a snack on the way back, too. No big deal.

Right?

Regrettably, Mokuba isn't in the office quite yet, but once he gets the text, he forwards it to the one other person that could do something about it--Isono. And of course, he texts Yuugi back letting him know.

Within minutes, Isono's arrived to Seto's office with a very small cup of coffee. Something bracing, to get him back on track, but not enough to cause problems with his...interesting biology.

It'll take Kaiba a moment to really wake himself up, and to be able to get back to work. He's not hungry though, not really. It's...strangely nice. Isono, for his part, notices that where Seto's suits and clothing hadn't quite fit his shoulders right, now there was less creasing and gathering.

An improvement, if subtle.

Elsewhere, however, there's some trouble afoot.

A snack probably wouldn't have been a terrible idea, but there's someone unfamiliar near the vending machine, pondering his purchase a little too much. He's dressed in red from head to toe--probably a very expensive suit--but the cravat really does look ancient, doesn't it?

"Hmm...hard to choose, hard to choose...every option's interesting," he said with a sigh. There's something about the way he speaks too, a foreign lilt on the syllables that betrays he's not a local.

As Yuugi approaches, the man turns to face him, his ice-blue eye full of curiosity--and it was just one eye. The way his hair was parted, the left was covered completely.

"Oh! My apologies! Please, let me get out of your way!" he says, taking a few steps from the machine with a slight incline of his head. Polite enough, for a foreigner.

Huh...what a weird guy.

The guy was tall, though more on the lankier side than particularly built. His hair was long and well-coiffed, his suit was made from what looked to be impeccable tailoring -- not that Yuugi knew much about that kind of thing -- and his entire attitude was very polite.

Unfamiliar, but polite.

"Oh!" Yuugi said, "Thank you. I'll only be just a minute."

He didn't want to take too long, after all; thankfully he always knew what kind of snacks he wanted...

...

Except today.

He was craving something a bit heavier in protein today.

Beef Jerky it was.

"Take your time!" the man said, giving a little wave of the hand. He stands there, hands behind his back and noting which snack Yuugi chose. Beef jerky, huh? What an oddly un-Japanese choice! Or at least, he thinks so.

"Careful with that, it's pretty high in sodium! Easy to get dehydrated...but it's pretty good. So I would overall give your choice a high score!"

And so saying, once the machine's free, he also buys some jerky for himself. Instead of one pack however, he purchases two.

"Thank you for the idea. Something about this reminds me of home, if I'm honest," he says with a hum. The way he talks, it's airy and drawn out. Very noticeably so. But not really impolite, at least.

"Oh, thank you! Don't worry, though. I have plenty of water at my desk to counteract it."

He had to; the last thing he wanted was to collapse because he wasn't taking care of himself again. Mokuba would have his hide.

Though wait. The things that guy said...

"Of home?"

Oh, right, he was probably a foreigner. He definitely looked like one; he'd never seen a Japanese guy dress like that (outside of extremely ostentatious prosecutors, anyway, but they were outliers and should not be counted) before.

"Where are you from, if you don't mind me asking?"

A few steps to the right, just enough to give the foreigner room to get to the machine.

"America! I'm visiting for business, actually," the man responds, very clearly not offended at Yuugi's curiosity. "If you don't mind me saying...you must be a new face around here. I don't believe I've seen you around before. Then again, Kaiba Corporation is a big company, always growing!"

He almost looks jealous about it, putting a hand to his head in a showy expression of frustration. Woe is he, the man from across the sea with a business that may or may not be less successful than KaibaCorp.

"Nothing wrong with growth though. That just makes my investment stronger~"

Oh...

An American, visiting for business...Didn't Mokuba say something about an American? Someone named Pegasu--

Yes! This had to be Pegasus. He was certainly a lot different than what Yuugi was expecting. When he thought of American businessmen -- and the creator of his favorite card game -- he certainly didn't think of a man who looked like...this.

"Oh, that's quite a trip, then. I hope you're enjoying your time in Japan, sir."

Aha. Yep, this was definitely happening. Kaiba's business partner that got him sick on Omakase was definitely talking to him right now.

"And um. My name is Yuugi. Yuugi Mutou; I'm a new hire for the game development division. It's always been my dream to work here, and I'm really happy to be able to contribute to KaibaCorp's continued success."

"I often do, in fact. I enjoy the rich culture here, and the organization of everything. Ever person has their place, and that includes you, doesn't it?"

And at that, Pegasus smiles, a smile that reaches his eyes in a most playful manner.

"My apologies. I was playing a bit coy, and that's rude. My name is Pegasus Crawford, and it's very nice to finally meet you, in the flesh! Kaiba boy is quite taken with your work ethic. And surely if he brought it up at all, it may as well be singing praises!"

Not a lie, in fact. Kaiba did appreciate Yuugi's work ethic, and he had brought it up with a little prodding.

Every person has their place.

What did he mean by tha--

Nope, it was time to blush. Blush, and blush a lot! Because just the idea of Kaiba singing his praises was enough to warm his cheeks and send his heart fluttering. How long had it been since he'd wrung his hands like a schoolboy? Probably high school, right? Middle school?

(Kaiba Boy? Does Kaiba actually like being called that? Why was he letting an investor just call him things like that?)

"Oh! Ah. It's...a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Crawford. And...I. I'm glad Mr. Kaiba enjoys my work. It's an honor to work for him, after all."

Though seriously, he looked like a schoolboy with a crush instead of talking about his boss.

Much professional.

So composed.

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