Seto Kaiba (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
firstrateduelist) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
kittensinboxes2024-12-05 10:48 am
firstrateduelist) wrote in kittensinboxes2024-12-05 10:48 am
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.
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.
no subject
FFffuck. Kaiba really can't be making sudden moves like that, he's still uncomfortably full, and he can taste it crawling up his throat. Oh, he doesn't look that great. But being Seto Kaiba, he fights his own nausea like a seasoned soldier
(he's done this before, when mokuba spreads an illness to him. conceal don't feel right?)
and swallows it back. Fuck you, body. HE IS THE WINNER!
"--Forget it. Just--just play cards with Mokuba, I don't care!"
Slowly, carefully, he walks off, making sure to stomp and make his feelings known.
no subject
(Or was it a mixture of both?)
Either way, something was...off, about him. Poor guy. After drinking that much blood and the whole...everything, about today, it was no wonder that he'd be on a short fuse. Yuugi was a little on edge himself, but...
Somehow being here made it all better. Like he could breathe.
"Seto!" Mokuba called after him, but he was already out of the room.
"...Rats, he's gone."
Yuugi bit his lip. "I'm sorry--"
"Nope, don't start. If you keep apologizing, I'm going to make you eat Seto's old favorite chocolate covered espresso beans."
"That doesn't sound too ba--"
"Dipped in kimchi."
"Eeeew."
"Exactly."
Mokuba huffed, grabbing the deck and shuffling it with practiced fingers. "Now c'mon, I've been wanting to play against you since you cleaned out half of Seto's chips with a bluff."