Tw: discussion of eating disorders or disordered eating
(Please let me know if I need to add a tag!)
Splitting this off of the other post bc of the subject matter. One of the hcs I really enjoy is Anzu / Tèa being quite knowledgeable about fitness, nutrition, exercise, and physical therapy from being a dancer.
And in many ways, I enjoy how Tèa and Kaiba are foils of each other - connection vs disconnection, physicality vs intellectualism, action vs reaction, sensuality vs denial, etc. And I think one of the ways we see this contrast is each characters potential relationship with food.
I hc that Kaiba has some sort of disordered relationship with food. Perhaps it might be “passive,” such as when he gets completely focused on a task or solving a problem and forgets to eat/deprioritizes eating. Or it could be more “active,” such as purposely denying himself until a metric is met and he is “deserving” of food.
He also comes from a consistent environment of lack - stability lack from the death of his parents, emotion lack from the sequence of ‘caregivers’ after his parents passing, resource lack at the orphanage, deliberately enforced lack of all three under Gozaburo. This may encourage a sort of “feast or famine” mentality to fully exploit the dopamine of an opportunity when it presents itself (especially if he also has ADHD). This may play out with food, sex, creative endeavors. It may appear like a manic episode or (in the specific context of interpersonal relationships) love-bombing and withdrawal. He may “indulge” and then immediately snap back and fall into a shame spiral from expressing need/desire.
In either case, I think he sees food at best as a necessary input, like a battery cartridge. The least amount of energy/resources one can put in to get the maximum output. He might have fancy dinners with colleagues/business partners/investors to “play the role” of Successful Rich Guy. But I think he’d be just as if not more happy to be locked away in his workshop and given a caffeinated protein smoothie every few hours so that he can fully devote himself to his work.
In contrast with Tèa, who yes sees the practicality of food as input for her athleticism, but I imagine has a much healthier relationship with it. Food isn’t just input - it’s community, it’s friendship, it’s family, it’s love. It’s indulgence, it’s effort, it’s joy.
It’s late night talks over a cheese platter and burgeoning blossoms of love over a well seared steak. It’s the process of self discovery through the reflection of the self through others. It’s subtle. It’s almost background. It’s stable. It’s acceptance.
Which is why I like to see how the interplay of these two characters unfolds over food, whether in a platonic or non platonic context (ymmv on which is harder to him to accept)*. How Kaiba deals with someone who decidedly put in effort to make him a meal. Not because he pays them for a service, but simply because they wanted to for him. How these small acts over the years gives Kaiba the ability to “practice normalcy” in a safe context.
Anyway yea I have a lot of thoughts about this. Seto Kaiba does not know How To Snack but hopefully Anzu can teach him.
*I say ymmv because yes romantic/sexual behavior is harder in some aspects but it also is a stress reliever. It might be easier to accept sexual intimacy rather than emotional intimacy. (Think Fleabag) Our Boy is the Avoidant Attachment Final Boss.
