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Language:
English
Series:
Part 2 of Insufferable
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Published:
2017-05-08
Completed:
2018-09-24
Words:
100,035
Chapters:
26/26
Comments:
298
Kudos:
623
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61
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17,510

Beg to Differ

Chapter 26: Epilogue

Notes:

Eyyyyyyyy we hit 100k words boy-os.

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

In the years following your graduation from Domino University, the Kaiba mansion steadily became more and more lonely.

Mokuba’s departure to Kyoto Seika had been bittersweet; you were nothing but elated for him to attend his dream school of course, but the nearly six hour drive had made it so he visited home less frequently than you would have liked. The Kaiba Corp. private jets certainly helped cut travel time, but he had often been busy with school and both you and Seto were swamped with work.

After his graduation, he had secured himself an internship at a real estate photography company in Tokyo, and within three months had begun working for them full-time. He also did freelance fashion photography on the side, his portfolio steadily increasing both in size and quality as he dedicated himself to work much in the same way you and Seto had. Somehow he still found the time for a personal life, and unsurprisingly had become a well known socialite in the city.

He came home for major holidays and, after moving to Tokyo, often made weekend trips to Domino to visit the two of you. Occasionally, he would stop into Kaiba Corp. to check on things, testing out new games and software and saying hello to the employees, but for the most part he was perfectly content with letting Seto handle actual business. His Vice President title became mainly for show, although he’d asked on a few occasions if he should give it up. Each time Seto said he may as well keep it, considering the fact that he held his own fair share of the company from stocks he’d received and bought over the years. Nobody really cared whether Mokuba did anything within the company and, in Seto’s words, “If they do they can take it up with me personally”.

The one thing Mokuba was interested in continuing to be part of was Kaiba Land, both the parks in Domino and California. In fact, any approval requests, new ride schematics, building blueprints, even new snack ideas went to Mokuba before they even hit Seto’s desk. Your fiancé was entirely fine with it, it allowed him more time to focus on things more relevant to the company and its technology. As he saw it, building the two theme parks had been a realization of their childhood dream, and now that it was built he considered that dream fulfilled. Maintaining the parks, although something he wanted the company to continue doing and doing well, had become of little interest to him. His sights were set further into the future, so if Mokuba wanted to take charge of Kaiba Land, then all the better.

Natalia retired from the mansion staff shortly after your engagement. She admitted to you that she’d been thinking of leaving for about a year leading up to the event, but wanted to stick around until he popped the big question. She said it felt like ‘seeing the story to its end’, although after she said it she quickly corrected herself, stating it was more like the end of a chapter than of a story.

You, Seto, and Mokuba had all seen her off on her last evening. She cooked up her best steaks, whipped up her fluffiest potatoes, grilled up the freshest veggies, and treated you all to a three-course dessert that even Seto had eaten all of.

She cried when she hugged Mokuba good-bye, ruffling his head of wild black hair he still hadn’t cut. She said one of her life’s greatest blessings was watching him grow into a fine adult, and with that Mokuba cried too. She moved on to you, kissing you motheringly on the forehead, and expressing that although you hadn’t lived in the mansion quite as long as the two boys, you had become an equally big part of her life. She said you should be in charge of picking the mansion’s next cook, as it was traditionally the lady of the house’s decision. She herself had been selected by Gozaburo Kaiba’s late wife, a woman you did not often hear mention of, but Natalia had a fond glint in her eyes you couldn’t help but smile at.

Upon reaching Seto, she encircled him in a hug so surprisingly tight even he let out a startled ‘oof’. He returned the hug, albeit much more gently, and a barely visible smile graced his face. Natalia insisted that if she was still alive she would return to cater the wedding. When asked why she planned on dying so soon, she gave a warm laugh and replied, “Well if you take as long as you did to propose to the poor girl, I might already be turned to dust.”

Isono had come to collect the last of her things, and after loading them into the car he too gave her a long hug and exchanged a few words. It was nice to see him smiling, see both of them smiling, even if over such a bittersweet moment. When the heavy mansion doors shut behind her, you and the Kaiba brothers were left in the bright foyer, glancing around wordlessly. The mansion seemed significantly emptier without Natalia, especially in the evening when all the other staff had gone home.

You had decided on waiting about a week before starting the search for a new chef, and it took you almost a month after that to finally pick someone. Between then, you’d somehow managed to fit cooking into your already packed schedule. You hadn’t remembered your food tasting so bland, but you supposed compared to a master chef, you couldn’t really compete. You’d convinced Seto to spend time in the kitchen with you on one evening during that brief period, and finally discovered something he wasn’t perfect at. Actually, you’d discovered something he was absolute shit at. It had been hilarious to find that the man couldn’t cook to save his life. His baking skills were fine, he could read a piece of paper and make precise measurements, so the few things he’d put in the oven had turned out decent, but when let anywhere near the stove his natural talents did him no good. After your fits of laughter, along with seeing what he managed to scrape out of a burnt pan, you both decided cooking was not for him.

It was something you held over his head even to this day.

The rest of the household staff remained the same. You were convinced Noel would be working at the Kaiba mansion until the day she died, and the same could be said for the landscapers, who continued to find new ways to make the outside of the mansion an unmatched extravagance.

Your fiancé didn’t get much more busy, he had always had more work to do than you thought humanly possible even when you first started dating. Rather, he had been forced to take more frequent business trips, which meant he was out of the mansion for days at a time. Mainly, he’d been checking in on Duel Academy. The year prior, professors teaching at the academy had gone through rigorous exams, a number of test duels, and finally had to be approved by Seto himself.

Chi, your former co-worker at the boutique you had worked in during college, had been both disappointed that she hadn’t been selected to be a professor, and delighted to be picked as a teacher’s assistant. Apparently, a certain professor Kabayama had taken a liking to her dueling style and had asked Seto for her employment. She had texted you non-stop about her new job for days, before practically dropping off the face of the planet. Presumably to prepare lesson plans and… whatever else she would be teaching at what you were still convinced was a terrible idea for a school.

It was the Academy’s first year, students transferring in as second and third years already finished with placement tests and classes officially beginning in the week to come. After that, Seto anticipated he would become much less busy, although you were sure he would just find a new project to occupy his time with. The man couldn’t stand sitting idle for more than five minutes at a time, much less not having work to focus himself on. He was already dead set on beginning a new energy project at Kaiba Corp., by which you meant, he was practically trying to create an entirely new form of energy. When he said his sights were set on the future, he really meant it, considering he hypothesized the project would take at the very least twenty years to even begin real work on.

Your own work had quickly eclipsed almost everything else in your life. Itsuki remained your apprentice at your studio, far surpassing all your expectations to the point that you even let him work on large, custom projects. You'd hired a second employee to take care of day-to-day operations at the studio at Seto's suggestion, a young woman named Hina who had the same burning passion for formal wear that you did. She had just started college at Domino University, and though she was mainly performing secretary work for the shop, she was hovering around either you or Itsuki and taking notes whenever she had the time. After she graduated and had more experience, you were confident she would make an excellent tailor.

Your wedding was put on the backburner by you and your fiancé, both so focused on your own businesses that when you found time to spend with each other the last thing you wanted to talk about was wedding planning. You both got about as far as deciding the wedding would be in America (because you had more friends and family than he did, and it would be easier to just bring everyone from Domino on one big flight) and in the Spring. Beyond that, including what date, month, or even year the event would take place, was anyone’s guess. Recently, Ryuuji had been insisting the two of you just hire a wedding planner to take care of everything for you, but the thought of Domino City’s biggest control freak letting anyone, other than his fiancée, plan his wedding was laughable.

Ryuuji’s life remained relatively the same, earning more than enough money from his game shop to continue living his happily upper class lifestyle. He was perfectly content with remaining a bachelor, having told you on more than one occasion (usually after a messy breakup) that the thought of being tied-down felt so stifling and unappealing. His company recovered slowly after the entire debacle with Schroeder Corp., never quite returning to its former glory, especially with the declining popularity of Dungeon Dice Monsters. But, after branching into publishing for physical board games, he held his own in the corporate world.

The Schroeder Corporation on the other hand all but faded into obscurity. After Zigfried’s suicide, his younger brother negotiated with Seto that the contract for the company’s purchase be dropped. Seto didn’t put up any fight, although he never said anything concrete you and Mokuba both knew he only cared about sending a message. The contract was no more, Leon took over in his brother’s place, and with little business experience or knowledge was quickly taken advantage of. The company went through three different CEOs in as many years before declaring bankruptcy.

During the short time he was president, Leon had sent you a letter apologizing for any harm the corporation might have caused you, and asking if he could talk to you. It had sounded sincere, like he had written it, at the very least, rather than had a secretary type it out. If you were being honest, you hadn’t really cared much about the letter at the time. The break-in had still been fresh in your mind, the faint scar on your cheek not completely faded, and nightmares still haunting your dreams. Your therapist had suggested reaching out to him, if for no other reason than to gain some closure, but you never really got around to it. Or, perhaps, you had just never worked up the courage. The letter sat in your bedside table for a long, long time, until about a month ago in fact. You’d forgotten it was even there, and upon finding it again two and a half years later, decided you no longer needed whatever closure it might offer. The two still living men who had broken into the mansion were already in prison, and would continue to be for the next seventeen years. You still had the occasional nightmare related to the incident, but they were infrequent and a lot less terrifying than they had been before. You’d decided you no longer needed therapy some months ago, and your life had basically already returned to normal. So, the letter had gone in the garbage.

Ciri and Dandelion both continued to enjoy their time at the mansion, though over the years they both spent less and less time running about, and more and more time sleeping on the furniture. Dandelion’s favorites had become your shared kingsize bed and the armchair in the East library. Ciri had taken to covering Mokuba’s bed in her fur or otherwise, for some strange reason, preferred sleeping in the bathtub.

In the years that had passed many things changed in your life, and they would continue to change as all things do. As you were growing older your interested shifted, your hobbies began to change, you grew closer to some friends and distant to others. In a world of infinite variables, however, there were a number of constants you could always rely on: The seasons passed, as they always did; in autumn the leaves fell from the trees, in spring flowers bloomed with new life. The sun rose in the East and set in the West. Time continued to flow, despite how there were times you thought you’d never make it through something, todays always turned to tomorrows and you pushed forward.

And through it all Seto Kaiba remained the most important, most wonderful, and most insufferable thing in your life.

Notes:

In loving memory of my good sweet boy Pants, aka the inspiration for Dandelion, who did not get to see this fic through to completion but will live on in the world of this series.

 

 

Wowie zowie I actually finished a story that's crazy.

If you haven't already, and you enjoyed this series, feel free to check out my other work. It's all Kaiba, because I have basically 0 interest in writing about anyone else. (Except maybe Byakuya Togami someday but let's be completely honest here they're practically the exact same character.)

If you're looking for other Kaiba x reader fics, and need some suggestions, here's a list of some of my favorite. A few of which inspired me to write this series in the first place:

forlornTimekeeper's complete series Yourself or Someone Like You which was the first complete Kaiba x reader fic I had read, and actually inspired me to start writing this series.

DragonSilk's The Art of Living which, although incomplete, is still a fic I go back to frequently to re-read, and is in fact the very first Kaiba x reader fic I ever read. I got back into both reading and writing fanfiction, which I hadn't done in well over ten years prior to reading this. While you're at it, check out their other stuff as well; plenty of Kaiba fics to keep you hooked.

Lunar Twilight's Black Magic and White Rum if you're into well-written sex scenes, a wonderfully thrilling plot, and a Yami Bakura who calls himself your daddy. It's a fic that I return to ALL THE TIME when I'm writing sex scenes, and that I am patiently awaiting an update from. Even incomplete (as of the time I'm writing this) there's still plenty of content for you to read.

Wanderlust3988's series To The Left Of Elysian the complete series which has so many dang words it should keep you busy for a good chunk of the near future. I'm not kidding, the first fic of the series alone has more words than both Pardon my French and Beg to Differ combined. Beautifully written, with lots of fluff and angst and smut and general Kaiba goodness.

And, finally, Aki_The_Shiftless' Midnight Coffee, a complete fic in which you take on the role of a great big smartypants who just wants Kaiba to stop drinking so much heckin' coffee. (Also PS I'm so glad every single Kaiba fic writer has universally agreed Kaiba consumes more coffee than is humanly possible even though he never once drinks coffee in the anime, bless).

This is not a complete list of all the Kaiba x reader fics I like, nor does it include any fics outside of AO3, but it should be a good starting point for you. There's tons of Kaiba x reader fics out there, so search away and join me in my crippling Kaiba addiction. And, if you're feeling inspired or so inclined, try your hand at writing a Kaiba x reader fic of your own. I am constantly refreshing the tag on this site, so if you write one, I will read it.

Please.

I need more.

Thank you to all of you who stuck around through the entirety of this crazy adventure of mine. This has been my first fanfiction since middle school yuck. My writing has certainly improved over the course of this series, even going back to some of the very first chapters of Pardon my French I find myself wanting to re-write half of them sometimes. But, such is the blight of the artist! Instead, I'll just have to put all my creative juices into other fics. Ghost still needs to be finished, and new works still need to be started. So many ideas so little time. But I digress! Thanks again y'all! Please feel free to leave your comments, critiques, and anything else you'd like to say about this series, down below.

And with that, dear readers, I bid you adieu.

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