This wasn't meant to happen

closed arayoshi hatori rp with trepidatixn. managed by dallas

[arayoshihatori]

“Yeah, I do. Surprisingly, I’ve never been a huge fan of fantasy, but nonfiction doesn’t do it for me, either. Realistic drama and the like are a good middle ground.” Hatori smiles gently, idly picking at his shirt sleeve; he was content to simply speak as he saw fit. “Maybe I’m just a sucker for drama not my own. Both of those are equally plausible.” He offers a sly wink to Shimura, visibly fighting to suppress his laughter. “How’d you guess?”

[arayoshihatori]

Hatori’s enthusiasm does not truly waver, merely ebbing into a sort of calm as Shimura took a seat beside him. “Considering that this resonated a ton with me when I was in high school, you must figure there’s bound to be content warnings, huh?” he teases, his tone fully one of jest and partial warmth. “You’re right, though. I mean, the main focus is family conflict. There’s an affair and the fighting that comes with it, unstable marriages in general, Antisemitism, self-isolation... Just typical Inge.” He laughs quietly to himself, once again eyeing the book in Shimura’s hands; a fairly distant quality to his gaze always seems to implant itself when discussing his favorite playwright. 

[arayoshihatori]

“Of course! The pleasure’s all mine.” If Hatori was at all aware of Shimura’s blundering, he did little to acknowledge it; he simply returned to his former reclined, relaxed position, giving a brief sigh. “I really do have too many copies of the damn book. You’re doing me a favor.” His eyes leisurely scanned the other man’s front, lingering, as usual, minutely upon his hands. “You can sit down, you know. If you’d like to. If you want to keep looking around, though, please do. You can borrow anything that catches your eye, you know.” There is a faintly nervous quality to his repetition, but it is largely concealed with the chuckle to the edges of his voice.

[arayoshihatori]

“That’s alright. I’d definitely be surprised.” Hatori’s eyes closely followed Shimura’s fingers as they fluttered among the pages of The Dark at the Top of the Stairs, safely reclined in his chair. “You can hold onto that one, if you want to. Like I said, I have too many copies. Really, if you liked it enough, I wouldn’t mind if you kept it.” The grin immediately split away to reveal his teeth, visibly leaning forward in his chair. “Of course, it’s fine if you’d rather not, but it’d be a crime to deny a copy of his best work to another fan of William Inge. If you decide that you like him, that is.”

[arayoshihatori]

“Imagining what?” Hatori’s tone was soft, curious, relaxed. It was not often that he had the opportunity to display his library to anyone outside of his immediate family, much less someone who appeared to be genuinely interested in its contents; the fact that Shimura was intrigued in regards to William Inge was nothing short of implausible. “I don’t know many Americans who have heard of him before, much less someone Japanese. If you can’t remember, it’s fine, but I’d love to know if you happen to.”

[arayoshihatori]

“I keep them in other places in the house. Maybe it’s a weird habit, but I like to have at least one copy where I can easily reach it wherever I am.” The closed smile never left Hatori’s lips, his posture relaxing as he reclined further back into the chair. “Sometimes I’ll just read a section when I’m in bed or while I’m with the kids. I haven’t gotten bored with it yet, so it’s doubtful that I ever will.” His eyes fixed to Shimura, passively observing his hands. “Where would you have heard it before?” 

[arayoshihatori]

“The Dark at the Top of the Stairs.” Hatori’s response is immediate, the delight quietly palpable in his tone. “It’s my favorite of his works. Definitely had the biggest impact on me out of all of them, too. Great place for you to start!” He smiled widely, though his lips were pressed together this time, concealing his teeth. “I have a few copies of that one. At least one of them should still be in the shelf.”

[arayoshihatori]

I wouldn’t stand for anything less in a library, much less one in my own home.” Hatori idly grazed his fingertips over the arm of the chair as he partially repositioned himself, returning Shimura’s grin tenfold. “Yes, Inge was definitely a playwright. One of the best of them.” A notion of something briefly flitted over his features, but it was gone as quickly as it had arrived. “I classify most of his works under ‘American Drama’. The 800 class. See if anything catches your eye in there.”  

[arayoshihatori]

“Thank you! It’s one of my closest treasures.” Hatori grinned widely, unable to help the slight swell of his chest in pride. He stepped into the library, wasting no time in finding himself a seat within one of the Bergere chairs parallel to the coffee table. “I do! Most of his works, in fact. I may be incredibly biased, but I really do believe you’d like most of the things he wrote.” His grin was toothy, natural. “The shelves are organized by genre, and the genre sections are organized alphabetically by the author’s name. See if you can find any of his works in a genre you like. Familiarize yourself a little. If not, I’d be happy to recommend a few.” The border of certain shelves possessed laminated signs labeling the genre of that particular grouping of books, presumably put in place for the children's sake. 

[arayoshihatori]

“Oh, I’ve never seen any in person. That doesn’t matter right now, though.” Hatori’s grin lingered easily on the corners of his lips, tenderly grasping the knob of the door and nudging it open. He made a slight show of his hands as he stepped into the room, flashing Shimura a toothy smile and shortly declaring, “Here’s my little slice of paradise.” 

The library was predominantly adorned with warm, homely tones of brown, a decent number of bookshelves stacked from floor to ceiling. There was, indeed, a large rug covering the center of the room, trailing back to a pair of adjacent Bergere chairs. A coffee table had been settled between them. Each of the shelves appeared to be packed tightly with novels; how Hatori could have possibly reached any of the volumes on the higher shelves was a mystery. 

[arayoshihatori]

“It’s not all carpet. That’d be really stupid, no matter how homely I wanted it to be. I just have a big rug with the chairs and table; anything closer to the shelves is hardwood.” Hatori arrived before the door leading into the home library, appearing much like any other door contained within his house, save its glossed mahogany wood. He turned to glance up to Shimura, the corners of his mouth uplifted in a casual grin despite his words. “I don’t think it’ll disappoint, but still, try not to get your hopes up too much. It’s nothing compared to others I’ve seen before.” 

[arayoshihatori]

“Come on, now! Cut me some slack,” Hatori pouted, the warm, frivolous tone to his words thoroughly softening any edge that they otherwise may have held. “I wanted something homely and comfortable. Hardwood doesn’t much fit that description. Carpet does much better. Then again, I should’ve taken into account that I share a house with a three year old and a ten year old.” He grinned brightly up to Shimura, wasting no further time and turning on his heel so as to start towards the library. “It’s this way. Probably not as big as you’re thinking, but it’ll do.”      

[arayoshihatori]

“Oh, right! That’s kind of what I brought you over for, huh? Not to say that you aren’t always welcome.” Hatori flashed the other man a wide grin on reflex, straightening up from where he had nudged his side into the counter’s edge. “I don’t have many opportunities to show it off, so it’d probably be my treat more than yours, but you can’t back out now.” His tone was light, exuberant with its undertone from his excitement. “You can bring your coffee, or we can wait until you finish. I trust you not to spill anything in there, unlike my kids.”

[einsami-blog]

                    I NEVER TRUSTED L FROM THE START ANYWAY… I’M IN THIS BECAUSE I WANTED TO BE ON THIS JOB WITH YOU, NOT LIGHT.

[arayoshihatori]

“Right. I don’t think I’m really worried about that,” Hatori mumbled; truth be told, however, he certainly was. He hadn’t bothered to plan much of their potential future, as it was a great deal less stressful to simply take steps day by day, but now that he did ponder it, finances were likely to become less and less of an issue as time progressed. The thought was much more soothing than it had any right to be.

He was somewhat jolted as Shimura draped an arm over his shoulders, though gratefully leaned into his side, effectively nuzzling into the skin there. Sighing deeply, he added, “”Now that I really think about it, you’re right. It’d be hard to not have money build up, with all the time we have. I’ve never really thought about it before, and... It’s a good thought.”  

[arayoshihatori]

“You’re right. It’d probably benefit me to work on that, huh? You and me both,” Hatori mumbled softly, his hand slipping from the other man’s shoulder. “Self-affirming language or some shit. Whatever it’s called. Something to try, I guess.” He flashed a grin in response to Shimura’s own. “You have enough time for that, you know. Think you might need to be a bit younger, though. Not that you’re not pretty enough for the position.”      

[arayoshihatori]

“Right.” Hatori sighed deeply, simply allowing himself to relax as he idly rubbed circles into Shimura’s shoulder blade. He appeared to effectively calm himself a bit, sparing a glance up to the other man. “With as much time as we have now, I think it’d be a surprise if I didn’t manage to publish at least something, no matter how shit it might be. I guess that’s something to look forward to. You could probably do something similar, too, even if not writing.” While the fact that both he and Shimura’s life spans were now practically endless certainly was apparent, it had not yet truly dawned on him, and wasn’t likely to do so for quite some time; he could only grasp that it was there.