LOG: Inui and Oshitari Part 2
Who: Inui Sadaharu & Oshitari Yuushi
When: Backdated like WOAH. It's before the company party, like a week or so.
Where: The apartments
Summary: Yuushi's coffee machine is broken. Inui thinks he's a retard for trying to throw it out in the dumpster. Inui fixes said coffee machine. Irritation, innuendo and surrealism ensue. Fanboying occurs and a date is made.
Warning/Rating: PG
Player Comments: If this isn't the biggest rollercoaster of a first meeting, I have no idea what is.
"Well if that is what you wish to do, then I see no reason to decline your offer." he stated, looking over to him, though there was a slight tinge of pink just dusting his pale skin at the very corners of those glasses that hid his eyes. He had never once been referred to as 'cute' and somehow didn't quite know how to deal with such a thing being said to him. Inui cleared his throat, trying to push back that very faint, but still present flush that seemed to have appeared while he was blindsided for that moment.
"Though are you sure the press and/or your fangirls might not get a bit uppity should we be seen in public together at some kind of restaurant?" he offered his opinion to the other man, because when one was in this industry one had to realise that those things were always needing to be taken into consideration. Then again, Inui himself was now going to be subject to that - even though he was only a new star.
Yuushi smirked, noting that he had in fact drawn an amusing reaction from the man. He hadn’t really blushed, had he? That must have been his imagination. Yes. However, there was clearly much more to add to his Inui fact file, wasn’t there?
The question of fan reactions had never bothered him, they were fickle minded at best, raising a ruckus about absolutely nothing and settling down once again when news of a new book came out. The press, and possibly Inui’s publicist, however, would probably take issue… But, he reminded himself, a restaurant had never been his intention and he decided to clarify. “You needn’t worry about mine or your fans-to-be,” he said. “My invitation was for the much humbler Osakan cuisine that I daresay I excel at. In return for homemade cakes, I thought I’d return in kind. Although if Japanese food is not to your tastes arrangements can be made.”
"Ah, no that sound acceptable." Inui nodded, never having been invited anywhere for homecooked anything before. "To be honest it's the first invitation into someone's home - aside from LAN parties once a month - that I've ever had. Most of the time if I'm asked to accompany someone for a meal, it's usually out. Thus I had no other indicator of what you were actually implying." he explained his reasoning and finished up his dessert.
"I would be happy to partake of your cuisine." he nodded. "I could say something along the lines of 'I bet you do this for all the girls..' but somehow I don't think I really need to." he chuckled, tone having turned teasing once more. A devious smirk crossing his face.
There was a new expression, Yuushi thought, returning the smirk, his expression unchanging as he said, “I’m sure I have no idea what you’re implying, Inui,” in a deliberate monotone.
"Oh?" Inui queried, a mock tone of surprised. "Excuse me for thinking you more charming and debonaire than you actually are then, Oshitari-san." The technician chuckled and adjusted his glasses as he took up his coffee cup once more and leaned back into the couch with a soft hum. "I was of the opinion you were quite a charmer - it seems my data is incorrect." he baited him and then waited - wanting to see if Oshitari would bite to engage in one of his most beloved past times. Banter.
“Oh, I must hasten to assure you that this is not the case,” Yuushi grinned. Well, part of him was, at least. That would do. The lighthearted tone of the conversation was a change from earlier, but welcome nonetheless. “And I will urge you to drop the honorific as I did. ‘Oshitari-san’ is my father. ‘-sensei’ would be appropriate if you were a follower of my work, which thankfully you aren’t.” Finishing the last of his cake he set down the plate. “As I was saying, your data is spot on. I am quite charming.”
"I see that. Though I'm liable to believe that you have yet to charm me, Oshitari." he smirked, the tone just that slightest bit challenging though still entirely light hearted and amusing. Yes, he was prodding at him. Prodding for a reaction or a rise. Something to continue down the road they were now on. "Nor should you want to - or am I to be corrected on these facts also?" he chuckled.
“You underestimate your appeal, Inui,” Yuushi replied with a flamboyant gesture. It had been quite a while since he’d had a conversation with someone who wasn’t yelling at him to meet a deadline or asking if he could put in a few more steamy scenes for reader appeal. “I see no reason why I shouldn’t attempt to charm you as well. After all, I am the one who invited you for dinner, am I not?”
"I have no reason to hold my appeal any higher than it already is, I'm afraid." he stated with a rather simple gesture of his hand. "However I suppose if that is your intention I should prepare myself thoroughly, as I'm quite sure I've never been charmed by a man of your..." Inui looked Oshitari up and down for a moment, pausing in finishing his sentence for a moment, as if looking for the right word. "...caliber" Inui's lips twitched up in a small smirk, rather obvious that he was enjoying their little two step back and forth.
Yuushi adjusted his glasses, meeting the other man’s gaze. If he hadn’t been having so much -fun- he would have taken a moment to muse on the complete character turnaround. “Hmm, although I have been known to be rather persuasive, I shall have to be certain that I don’t disappoint your expectations.”
Oh it wasn't a character turn around. It was just his deviousness starting to show. When the path they were on right then opened up, he tended to have a hard time not stepping down it. Call it innate curiosity. That thing that a lot of intelligent people are born with. Whatever it is. Inui was fascinated with this particular road and the ambiguities and reactions that came with it. He travelled it simply because he could and the ride was never dull. There was nothing more to it - though he would admit that he was rather choosy about how and who he tended to go about it with, but as with any situation, one must meet the correct variables for anything to occur. It was only natural that this was the same.
"I'm quite certain you won't." he assured with a knowing tone. "I am just insatiably curious as to what will occur and how you intend to go about it. Though I suppose I will have to just wait and find out, won't I?"
“Well of course,” Yuushi replied. The man was apparently an expert. Midas touch again, perhaps? Or simply another side of a complex character he had been right to defend from stereotyping. Had the novelist met him before that memorable exchange, he would never even have begun down that particular strain of thought. “Half the fun is in the wait itself, wouldn’t you agree? It makes things that much more interesting.”
"I suppose we could stipulate such a thing. However we would then have to assume I'd be pining over you until such a time. Which isn't likely to happen considering how hectic my days are." he pointed out. "Though I'm sure you could easily find ways to make me think of such things - what exactly, I'm not sure but then again you are the charmer and I am the charmee. It isn't my job to think of such things in our situation." he reminded. "I shall however... how is it put again? Ah yes.. I shall wait with bated breath." Inui smirked. "You'll excuse me if I'm not particularly good with words - they're not my strong point."
“Hmm, yes, we shall have to see just what your strong point happens to be, won’t we? But then again it could be that my charm leaves you speechless,” Yuushi chuckled. Even in playful banter Inui was never ceased to be perfectly logical: ‘considering how hectic my days are’ indeed. “But you can be assured that I will try my best to give you a reason to… as you said, pine over me.” If for nothing else but to see how that was even possible, he added as an amused afterthought, the mental imagery of a princess in a tower not quite suiting Inui.
No, definitely not a princess in a tower. More like a longing stable boy who was destined for great things, but no one ever believed he could do any better (and even he himself, didn't particularly have the faith in his gifts). "Mn, I'm sure figuring out just what it is I actually excel at will fascinate you to no end." he joked, the dry sarcasm entirely clear there. No, in Inui's opinion no one could ever find him fascinating in the slightest.
Though a reason to pine over the other man? That would be an interesting one. Somehow he wanted to see just what he'd come up with to try and achieve that end result. "You're most likely going to do nothing and hope that I wait for you to do something, which in turn will allow you the easiest route to ensnaring my attention." he stated, explaining the most viable strategy that he could think of at present that required the least about of effort with maximum results. "Am I wrong?" he teased.
“I have to admit I hadn’t even thought of that,” Yuushi conceded. “Although now that you yourself suggested it am led to believe it is feasible. However,” he added, following the thought through before Inui did, “If I do follow that strategy now that you mentioned it, you would most likely ignore my hard-to-get routine and render it a failure…”
He had noted the tone of sarcasm in his comment about his inherent fascinating-ness. Either Inui had -no idea- how interesting he was or he was toying with Yuushi’s interest (both genuine and playful) in him. The novelist suspected the former to be true, considering how the man said he was usually treated.
He sighed broadly, “No, I will use mysterious methods known only to those who have fallen to my charms to lure you to me. It would be that much better to keep you guessing, keep that delectable intellect sharp.”
"Ah, I see." Inui chuckled, an amused expression upon his face. "I look forward to your attempts to blindside me, then." His mind was already calculating the other most likely probabilities, wondering just what he'd do - though he still suspected that even if he'd mentioned it, his original opinion would still stand firm and true. That Oshitari was merely using misdirection in this given situation. Really though, Inui didn't think the novelist would try to charm him into bed anyway. Inui himself was most definitely not the type (or at least this is the premise he was working with currently).
"It won't be easy for you, but I'll look forward to it." he smirked.
Yuushi looked across at the man, wondering just what it was that Inui was looking forward to. He had had his fair share of conquests in his time but he doubted the man was the kind to fall for any degree of ‘charming’, short of perhaps drugging him.
“Oh I know it won’t be easy, Inui, that is the point, after all.” He made an expansive gesture, as though putting on airs. “As I said, the pursuit is the most exhilarating part of any kind of courtship. Of course, if you feel so inclined, I wouldn’t object to being pursued in turn,” he added, giving him a pointed look.
"Ah, but you see, me pursuing you is a rather redundant task." he said with the tilt of his head, his tone taking on a property of knowledge that had not been eluded to in their previous banter back and forth. "Now I could offer you explanation for this, or you could inquire as to why - and I will answer you and give the aforementioned explanation should you choose to ask. Though it would also give away the most efficient way for you to succeed in pursing me." he stated. "Do you see what kind of dilemma this puts us in?"
Oh yes, Inui wasn't playing hard to get. In fact Inui never started down this road with anyone he wouldn't already be privvy to having a carnal knowledge of. He was surprisingly picky that way, believe it or not. The truth, should it be told, was simple. Inui wasn't hard to get. He was immensely easy to get into bed if he was interested in such a thing. The only thing stopping that? People's need to go the long way about things. To try and figure out a problem when there was an answer staring them in the face. If Inui explained his courtship strategy, then the way to get into his pants would be most evident.
Inwardly, Yuushi frowned. By his implications, it would seem that pursuit… wouldn’t actually be necessary, and that was an impossibility… wasn’t it? Even for the most logical of souls, wasn’t there a need for - for lack of a less inappropriate (or perhaps appropriate) term- foreplay? Perhaps in some ways he was as hopeless at romance as the readers he wrote for, but surely no one was that -to the point-?
Considering that this was Inui, and the fact that he had said pursuit would be redundant, Yuushi was beginning to rethink that. Dropping the suaveness for a moment, he felt that if he didn’t ask the question he would be plagued by the thought for far too long. Pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose, he looked at the man. “And so if I were to drop all thoughts of the chase, put down my coffee cup and simply say, voulez-vous coucher avec moi, you would…”
"Given the fact I don't speak French, I would most likely say 'I have absolutely no idea what you just said'." he responded with a laugh and then set his cup down. "However, the fact that I believe your tone is universal - I would say yes." It seems the other man had as much of a brain as he would have hoped. Though for some reason the other man seemed to think that no chase meant to fun. Well... Inui didn't believe that was true. He may not have been that challenging to get into the bedroom but that did not mean that what occurred there was all cut and dry.
"However, since you have figured it out - it is my assumption that without a chase, you would become bored and uninterested before anything even began. Given your previous responses of course." Inui tilted his head and adjusted his glasses. "I don't know what kind of people you've slept with before, however - but I'm sure you've either had them throw themselves at you or be incredibly difficult to persuade. I am not particularly either. Though may I remind you that the chase and the persuading does not end when you get the agreement to go back into the bedroom. At least not with me." Inui smirked almost deviously.
"I am in a sense - cutting to the real chase."
“I concede your point,” Yuushi replied. Of course, he’d never even considered bedding one of the starry-eyed admirers who, as Inui had put it, threw themselves at him, but the fact of the matter was that most of his liaisons had been with people who had actually played back in the game of cat and mouse; it was more about how well you cloaked your willingness to be persuaded. This did not, he told himself, apply to Inui.
Fascinating.
“Hmm, in the absence of a pursuit to capture my attention, you will have to live up to those words,” he continued, meeting his smirk, “But I will say to your credit that I find it hard to believe that you can ever quite bore me.” This was true, and it worked in the context as well, so it wasn’t so much a confession of interest as a continuation of their banter.
Oh Inui was more than willing to be persuaded. He wouldn't have run down this road to see where it got him unless he was fully aware where he could end up. This situation was one of many outcomes. Oshitari punching him in the face was another (however unlikely it was). No, Inui was well aware of it all. He made no promises and he asked for none, either.
"The only way you're going to find out if I live up to them or not, is to ask the question outside of a neutral context, then." Of course this was their first meeting and Inui wasn't usually one to use fixing a man's coffee machine and feeding him dessert as a precursor to sexual intercourse. In fact it was getting into to have sexual intercourse that was the real chase (as Oshitari may or may not find out, depending on his actions).
"Unless of course you're going to wait until our dinner date to pop such a question into real time context?" Another tilt of his head, this time in question. Would he or wouldn't he? Yes or no? Inui wasn't even going to bother calculating the statistics, he already knew that he was going to drive the novelist batty just because he didn't exist on the normal human social plane when it came to dancing back and forth about sex. It seemed Oshitari was having a hard time dealing with the fact it was that easy to get a 'yes' from him.
Yuushi was beginning to think it was time he threw in the towel. Not that Inui had ceased to be interesting, far- far from it, but he was simply at a loss, and it was clear that the other man deduced as much. He decided, for the moment, to drop the coolness and give him the straightest (well, quite the opposite, really) answer of the evening.
“Yes,” he replied, smirking. “I was intending to wait, and not out of a desire to avoid the eventuality, if that is what you will read it as. My reasons are simple; because I find home made sushi rather aphrodisiacal and I enjoy setting some form of a mood. And because you are expecting a guest tonight and it would be rude.”
"Indeed. It is a weeknight. I have a guest at midnight every weeknight." Inui stated rather simply with a shrug. "Of course plans in advance can and will be made. In addition, I agree fixing your coffee machine is not a prelude to any form of sexual experience." Inui nodded. "That and it is only natural you would set a mood - you're a romance novelist, you're meant to be the master of all masters." he teased. "Not to mention it is just something that people fond of words and atmosphere tend to do."
Nodding, Inui stood and started to pack the machine up for Oshitari, merely as something for him to busy himself with as he'd finished his cup of coffee. "Besides, I'm not usually one to jump into bed on the first date." Inui laughed. "Even if it is easy to get me to state my openness to the idea of ending up there right here and now."
Yuushi chuckled. “I am rather a sucker for atmosphere, I’m afraid,” he said. “Or I’d be tempted to take you up on that offer.”
His coffee had gone painfully cold but he swallowed it before setting his cup down. Not quite certain what time it was, he surmised that Inui’s act of turning his attention to the coffee machine as a subtle hint that he should start thinking of leaving- although he knew that if Inui wanted him to leave he would outright tell him so. “Hmm, dinner on a weekend, then?” He couldn’t help but think he sounded like a high schooler confirming a date. “I wouldn’t want to intrude on a… tradition.”
"It's not really a tradition." Inui replied with a flick of a wave over his shoulder. "It's just me looking after my manager. The man doesn't eat and he doesn't sleep and the only way I can get him to function like a human being and spend time with his dog is to give him a curfew." Inui realised at that point just how strange that sounded when it was simply a manager/talent relationship. "So we watch Dr. Who at midnight and I feed him a snack and he toddles off to bed like a good boy should." he laughed and ran a hand through his hair, sitting back against the chair once he was done with the coffee machine, leaving it sit neatly and ready to go on the table.
"He's a demon with words, that man. A truly baffling talent, but he's so unbelievably innocent." he mused. "It's hard not to wonder if he's still stuck in middle school or not sometimes." Another shake of his head, before he changed the direction again. "However that does sound pleasing. It's not like us geeks have much planned on Saturday nights." Inui confirmed which day would be more suitable for him. "How does that sound to you?"
Yuushi chuckled at Inui’s description of his manager- his mind popped up a card that reminded him that he was named Yanagi and had referred to his works as ‘bodice rippers’. Another character to look forward to, then. He wondered briefly if there was anyone in the whole building who was perfectly honest about who they were.
“Perfect,” he replied. “Unless my editor decides to hound me with a deadline… Ah, actually, especially if my editor decides to hound me with a deadline. And don’t sell your free weekends short, you’re on the threshold to fame and fortune after all.” He sighed heavily, putting a hand to his forehead in a mock tragic gesture. “It would be so painful to be stood up.”
"Oh the melodrama?" the sarcastic as hell comment came with a smirk the size of China and a little chuckle that said 'oh wouldn't you just be so heartbroken if I didn't' (even that was sarcastic). "I'm sure you'd go on. You'd manage without me somehow." he shorted slightly. Like anyone needed Inui in their lives to function (well, aside from Yanagi in some cases - but those were merely the things Inui took upon himself to try and help him with because he couldn't understand how someone could exist the way that man did).
"In addition, you get the benefit of saying 'yeah, you know that guy - I had a date with him before he was famous'." he laughed. "Not that it will do any good for your reputation of course."
“Hmm, no, I can actually see it working,” Yuushi continued thoughtfully. “Your fans will be inspired to see what kind of man I am, and I just might attract a whole new readership. And vice versa, of course.” He began to make another gesture to complain about how Inui could capitalise on his own fans, but was compelled to cut himself short as his gaze fell on a poster on one of his walls.
A poster that Oshitari Yuushi had never, in all his life, expected to see again. A poster that predicted in bold, towering yellow letters, the advent of the Proverbial Doomsday Llama. Dropping every single one of his usual facades, both intentional and intrinsic, he pointed. “Oi,” he managed, not caring in the least that he sounded less cultured than he had all evening. “That…”
Inui was following the other's train of thought with an amused expression until he heard a very uncharismatic 'Oi' and blinked in confusion. He stopped for a moment to survey the novelist with curiosity. It seemed he was surprised, shocked and almost... mortified?... by something he'd seen in Inui's apartment. Well, he may be a bachelor and some papers may not be sorted, but he wasn't dirty or unclean perse. So it couldn't have been that.
Slowly he let his eyes trailed along the outstretched arm with the pointed finger, then after that looked to where he was pointing. One of his framed Bmovie posters. One of Inui's favourites, actually. "That... would be an extremely rare poster." Inui stated and then moved over to it with a chuckle, running his hand down the frame. "When I was a kid I snagged it from the old local cinema before the people to tear it up with the rest of them." he said, the fondness in his voice unmistakable. "It's one of my all time favourite movies. Unfortunately there were barely any credits on the end of the reel." Inui muttered before going over to another shelf and hold up a film cannister. "But I have the original in film from that cinema - and the VHS and remastered DVD." he laughed, pointing them all out.
"Bmovies are the greatest thing in the universe... it's sad they don't really get made anymore. It's like the end of an era that let kids dream of being absolutely anything. Doing anything. Making the impossible, possible... movies like this made me want to do special effects. Movies like this kept me busy for hours after I wasn't allowed to build things anymore. Made me be an usher in middle school for shit pay just so I could watch them... so I could dream as well." Realising that was far, far to eloquent for himself, Inui stopped talking, running his fingers over the tin in front of him. "Well, I really think that's quite enough from me." he chuckled, trying to fob all of it off as something that didn't mean the world to him.
Yuushi was attempting with every fibre of his being to regain his famed composure, but Inui’s -moment- made him falter once more. While on one hand he was utterly surprised to see the man’s obvious passion for the B-movie genre to the point of launching into a rather eloquent soliloquy on them, the fact that he had launched into it on account of this particular movie only made things worse.
Oh yes, he would never forget that day in middle school when his father who had been irritable for weeks because his son and heir was going on about wanting to become a writer, had called him into his office and introduced him to a rather suspicious looking group of people who had ‘his first ever writing assignment’ for him. A script, they’d said, a real movie script, and Yuushi had been suitably excited. Until they told him it was about a llama. Not just any llama, a doomsday llama.
It had only been the first in a series of bizarre films he’d worked on, but unknown to his parents it had only inspired him to stick to his determination. Yes, he supposed, perhaps the llama had been his license to dream too. And to learn that he had actually had an effect on someone… to the point of being among ‘favourites’… He hated to admit it but it gave him that inexplicable feeling of warmth in his heart.
It was possibly the first time all evening that he avoided Inui’s gaze. “I… wrote it.”
Inui almost dropped the can. The credits had been barely there on the movie. There had been no listing of the crew other than that of the director. The director and the cast and that was it. Nothing. No one. There had been no other information about that film - and many of the others that he loved - written at all. Hell, when the genre was more serious of course there had been information about them. They were all over MST3k! But not these films. These films were mysteries... and this man. This... gloriously sublte, arrogant, 'I'm too cool for school' richboy was standing there telling him that he wrote it?!.
Impossible... Impossible. The man was barely older than him - if he was older than Inui at all. No. It didn't add up. Nothing made sense and for some reason he couldn't believe it... until he looked at Oshitari's face. It had been the only time that man couldn't make eye contact with him. The only time he wasn't looking like he was going to flaunt his work, even if it wasn't Inui's taste.
"...you... you would have had to have been a teenager." he murmured. "Unless you've had extensive cosmetic surgery - but I doubt that." The awe was clear in his voice and he was clutching the film tightly.
Yuushi was used to fans of his work, mostly of the squealing-swooning-lingerie -throwing variety. If he hadn’t been so caught off guard himself he might have been interested in Inui’s sheer expressiveness over the course of this conversation, but talking about his adventures in scriptwriting had never been altogether in his comfort zone. At least not until he met someone who actually enjoyed them.
This was the first time someone he knew, he respected on one level… “I was thirteen,” he replied. “My first writing assignment. Father -arranged- it, so I wasn’t credited. There are some others I worked on too,” he offered, then realised Inui had most likely seen all of those as well.
"..you're my age." Inui almost fell over. Almost. Instead he went to his shelf and skimmed to every single movie that had only credits for directors and pulled them all out. "And these?" His glasses hid the majority of his expression. The only way one could really tell was if Inui was blatantly smirking or when his eyebrows changed position. "None of them mention the writer. Not one. There's no information about any of these films anywhere." Those brows furrowed. Somehow it was almost too much to take in. Did Oshitari as a boy even want to make those films? Everything on the man's face said he was embarrassed by the fact that they even existed. Somehow... somehow that hurt. Something inside his chest clenched and his unseen eyes were burning.
These were his dreams. His past and what he'd based his present off, and coming face to face with a man that didn't want to really admit they were his... or was at the very least incredibly reluctant to... it made him almost want to throttle him. Scream at him. Because to Inui they were great. To reject them rejected his entire purpose and inspiration in life and it made him feel small. Smaller than he cared to be... because even if he didn't express his feelings about it all that often, it didn't mean the passion wasn't still there, hidden and locked away under a mask of apathy. Of never-ending objectiveness.
"How many of these did you write and never say anything about?" Maybe he was a little too passionate about this. Maybe it was just the fact he was particularly attached to the feelings he associated with these specific films.. he didn't know. "Did you think that they'd reach no one?" Oh yes, Inui could see the embarrassment. The 'oh god someone actually watched those' expression on Oshitari's face had said it all. It pissed him off. Even if his voice was calm, his passion wasn't. His eyes weren't.. and even if they couldn't be seen, it was clear that Inui wasn't not a cold man. He acted like one... but he wasn't one. It just made him feel stupid that his dreams were based on someone's past that would rather be forgotten.
And it was rare... that Inui ever felt stupid.
Had the situations been different, had he been in the comfort of his home, Yuushi might have been inclined to react more emotionally, so painful was the bite behind Inui’s question, the emotion in his voice.
But he was in Inui’s house, and the man… well, he’d pushed another button, this one completely unintentionally. It was just his default reaction; he had come to be distinctly uncomfortable about mentions of his early scripts after a series of discomforting circumstances. Sure, he still was as he once had been, proud of his work; llamas, penguins, the lot of them, of being able to put into words whatever a ragtag group of ambitious young men would convey to him through actions and mime. Inui was justified in asking if he thought they would reach no one- Yuushi never had, not once.
He never wrote something if he didn’t enjoy it, not the romance novels that caused critics to question his credibility as a writer, not the scripts of questionable quality he’d written as an ambitious child.
It was just that adopting popular opinion had been so much easier. It was only now, meeting someone whose life had actually been touched by the films that he was beginning to realise how wrong he’d been.
“Several,” he began, answering the question. “I was never in the credits because that was part of the arrangement my parents made, I wasn’t to receive payment for the work.” He sighed. “I remember believing in them, in the movies, in what I was writing.” He wasn’t about to defend himself saying he’d faced a tough crowd or that it had been part of his angsty past, that was none of Inui’s concern. “But until today you are the first person to admit to having watched them. To having enjoyed them.” And that meant more to him than even Yuushi himself knew.
"A lot of people enjoyed them." he stated, slowly sliding each one back into place. "Paid.. so much just to get one of the limited number of copies that circulated. You're a fucking icon." Inui took a deep breath and tried to swallow everything he was feeling right then, even though the last part came out in a somewhat disbelieving chuckle. It was about how much he thought those romance novels that made the other man popular were stupid. How much he'd wished he'd just kept writing these dodgey science fiction films... but he couldn't say that. Wouldn't say that. Not everyone liked bmovies. Not everyone liked romance novels. It was illogical to let his emotional attachment have any more weight than any other person's opinion. Inui knew that. Saying those things were meaningless, even if they had been made perfectly clear by that momentary lapse in emotive repression.
"I take back what I said on your jounal that first time. I am a fan. Just of where you started as opposed to where you've ended up." Inui adjusted those glasses and set the movie tin back on its shelf, just where he'd got it from. "So many people want to know who wrote these. So many people wanted them to keep being made... but the writer disappeared off the face of the planet and left a generation hanging. He didn't make anymore." Finally, Inui turned back around to face the man on his couch.
"We all speculated you died. Some eccentric old billionaire that left all these old manuscripts behind, and your fortune was spent on making shitty bmovies." The technician let a kind of ironic smile onto his face. "There was even a sci-fi audio drama made by amatuers on a forum that serialised the discovery of a fake manuscript.. an unfinished epic to pick up with the first 'Alien Toasters of Gorgon 5' left off." he shook his head. "It's not because the movies were masters of the film genre... it's that they were made with the ideals that we all had. The essence of what we all wanted to do." Inui came over and sat back down, fingers lacing as he rested his elbows on his knees.
"..and here you are. A romance novelist. Pleasing the unsatisfied housewives of the nation. Giving teenage girls hopes and dreams of true love and passion." It was essentially the same thing except... well except nothing. It was just romance novels were more of a phase - whereas the bmovies had cult followings. Conspiracy theories. People that did almost anything to get their hands on memorabilia for them.
"I can't say the truth is as exciting as was speculated." he chuckled weakly, "But my opinion is no greater than anyone else's. I only have my likes and my dislikes. My apologies if I said anything to offend you. It's just surreal... meeting one of the people who inspired most of my goals in life."
Inui was wrong in having thought he’d offended him. Yuushi was, if anything, moved, more than he had ever been of late.
And, yes, he was right to be disenchanted that the crafter of the works that were so important to him was, well, himself. “I don’t blame you,” he said, careful not to sound too disappointed in himself. “I should be honoured, flattered even that what I wrote touched you so...” He shook his head. The poster seemed to sneer down at him, trying to make him feel guilty for having admitted to writing it. How much easier it would have been if he’d not said anything, allowed the conspiracy theories to continue. Then he wouldn’t have to face the truth himself; that he was responsible for what he wrote. He felt as though he owed Inui, and perhaps the others like him, an apology, but the idea felt hollow, redundant. He felt… lost.
Inui reached out and put a hand on Oshitari's shoulder, having found it bleedingly obvious that the other seemed to feel disheartened? Bad? Off colour? Something... about what he'd said. Though it didn't seem to be all that happy. Maybe it was because of the way Inui had phrased everything. It seemed so subjective and one-sided, but then again most opinions were, even if they were referenced. "Don't sound like that." he stated, even if it didn't really sound like Oshitari had been down - Inui was immune to the facade people generally liked to put forth. It really did irritate some people, though.
"If what you do now makes you happy then do it." That was the end of it. Honestly, that was really all that mattered in a person's life. 100%. No doubt in Inui's mind. "While I can't really say I'm prone to what just happened, don't let it belittle what you've made." Inui nodded. "I'll keep your secret. Vulcan's honour." Inui made the Spock symbol with his hand and chuckled a little, some part of him still couldn't believe it, though. Oshitari was lucky he hadn't fanboyed. That would have been embarrassing.
So he had been that obvious, had he? Look at me I’m angsting, comfort me? Ridiculous. “Do forgive me for behaving like a schoolboy who needs to be told everything would be all right,” Yuushi chuckled softly, a gesture of gratitude for Inui’s words. He had done whatever he’d wanted to his whole life, hadn’t he? Well, for the most part, anyway, right from declaring he was a writer to running off to prove it.
“And while I don’t doubt your reliability, I don’t think I should keep it a secret,” he said. “I don’t think I will,” he repeated, affirming it to himself as well. It wasn’t going to affect his current readership at all, anyway, considering that they pretended his only non-genre work didn’t exist. “I’ve never written something I didn’t enjoy, after all.” As an afterthought, he added, “I don’t suppose you want to take a look at the first drafts of Llama and some others?” He knew if he was ever to meet Margaret Mitchell he'd want to, but he wasn't certain how Inui would take it.
Inui nodded in recognition of everything Oshitari said, one after the other with the socially expected little hums. Though at that last part his head kind of just kept nodding, but his brain was kind of repeating it over and over. It was like he was caught in a recursive loop. There was almost an eerie silence. Like the calm before the storm. He looked like he had a massive neon sign slapped to his forehead reading "DATA PROCESSING" in large san-serif letters. The next sign that would have flashed up in that same type would have been "THIS WAY LIES MADNESS" in a very Gibson-esque manner, with a flashing sign pointing to Oshitari.
"...the...original first... drafts?" He seemed in shock. Awe. He didn't know what he was but the serious inner fanboy in him was about to explode and somehow in one gigantic garbled sentence he managed to give an affirmative answer. It was like an alien language and he could swear he was about to hyperventilate. He knew he had to calm down. He couldn't just act this way in front of the other man. Inui knew how irritating it was for the people who had to deal with it. He'd watched it from the background. Seen it in full force and that incoherent sentence was only the beginning.
"...ah, I mean..." he cleared his throat. "I'd like that."
That he hadn’t expected. Yuushi just stopped short of comically rubbing his eyes, so surprised was he from the reaction- the wave of reactions (or lack thereof, in a way) that had flitted across Inui’s usually composed features. This was different from when he’d been talking about the poster. This was…
But for the life of him, Inui was reminding him of a young woman at one of the book signing events he’d attended, completely at a loss for what she wanted to say and sufficing to make do with elaborate gestures. Which meant this was…
His rollercoaster analogy came back to him, only this was the part of it that paused on the brink of a gigantic drop then politely pulled you back out of concern for your heart. This was Inui… being a fan.
The novelist nodded, not wanting to make the man conscious, or to admit that he was feeling a little conscious himself. “It gives you further incentive to take up my dinner offer, although since you already agreed perhaps I should have kept this to lure you there later,” he added lightly, pushing his glasses up once again. He’d have to check if he had any other leftover relics from back then; it was probable that his clutterbug tendencies had prevented him from throwing anything away for sentimental value. “I’ll just have to see if I can surprise you.”
Inui averted his gaze slightly and tried to hide the barely-there dusting of pink that had appared on just the very tops of his cheekbones. Unfortunately for Inui, monitor tanned skin did nothing if bring it out more than he would have liked. He hadn't really just sounded like that, had he? There was an inner surge of dread, but he pushed it aside for his regular composed expression and ran a hand through his hair calmingly.
"You can always save it for a later time." he responded. "I'm a patient man, after all. Things come in time if one waits long enough." Inui gestured to Oshitari himself. "You're here, against all conceivable odds, sitting in my lounge room offering me something that is meant to be impossible. You're also here asking me to dinner, which while not nearly as impossible as the former, isn't something one would call a regular occurrence."
There was another smirk tugging just at the corner of his lips. "I'm sure you'd give me a coronary if you surprised me any more this evening, or even this week. You have to realise that week geeks don't get out much." he teased. "At least not until convention season begins." There was another soft laugh as he finally regained full control over himself.
"Pacing ourselves would be wise - and probably more beneficial, in the long run." Inui's tone was knowing. Knowing and leading. Trying to hook Oshitari. Bait him into the intrigue even more than he already was.
And he was back. There was the man Yuushi had been speaking to all evening- save the blush that he had wondered if he was hallucinating again. Really he thought to himself, How can someone be so obstinately captivating and perfectly logical at the same time?
He sighed, wondering if he preferred the fan; he’d been easier to figure out, at any rate, or so he assumed. Running a hand through his hair, he looked up, meeting his smirk. “Very well,” he said. “I didn’t think you were the whirlwind relationship kind of man. Slow and easy it will be then. With the surprises evenly paced.”
Inui smirked. "Well, we'll see how it goes." he chuckled and stood. "For now, this is a good place to end our first chapter - or was it a prelude?" Nodding to the newly fixed and neatly packaged coffee machine, Inui went on to speak further. "Remember: Let it brew a full pot. Turn it off. Clean the filter. Then you will have achieved coffee machine zen."
No, it didn't seem he could resist. This was just too open to his sense of humour, really it was. Though he would most definitely be looking forward to a second encounter with this man. This man who seemed to irritate, stimulate and baffle him all at once (that was the most probable reason for his excitement actually). "Until we turn the next page, Oshtiari." he offered a hand to the man so he could shake it.
Yuushi chuckled at the profuseness of literary metaphors. “A prelude indeed,” he replied, taking the proffered hand. To what he expected to be quite the page-turner, he added to himself in some amusement. A strange variety of psychological thriller, perhaps, on a very human level. He gathered the coffee machine that had unknowingly been the focal point of the entire encounter, inclining his head in a gesture of gratitude to the man. “And to thicken the plot, I just may owe you my life as well,” he remarked with a self-depreciating smirk, before adding, in all sincerity to the man who had restored his caffeine supply and, to some degree, his mental faculties, “Thank you.”
"All in a day's work for The Technician." Inui chuckled and walked him to the door. "Enjoy the caffeine - and incidentally nice to meet you." he tilted his head a little, quirking a brow. "It was surreal... but nevertheless, nice." Concluding that thought, he nodded.
Surreal, Yuushi agreed. It had been quite an encounter between two complete strangers, after all. “Likewise,” he replied, echoing the thought, “Nice.”
Stepping out of the apartment, he noted the night air was chill, even in the corridors of the highrise. “The pain of parting is nothing to the joy of meeting again,” he mused aloud, quoting Dickens. “I look forward to it.”
"Indeed." Was all Inui replied with, nodding his goodbye to the other man. It was strange. That was one intense first meeting, despite having just been fixing Oshitari's coffee machine. Maybe Inui ndeeded to get out more if he was that starved for company. It was time to start up Unreal 3 competition league again, he mused. Slowly he closed the door when the other got out of sight and then picked up Ding who was at his feet. "Let's go and watch Star Trek, hm?" he patter her lovingly and then went about his routine as normal, putting the constant back into his life that meeting Oshitari in such a way had pushed off balance. Honestly, that guy still pissed him off. Maybe just in a good way. He determined their next encounter would surely be interesting...
When: Backdated like WOAH. It's before the company party, like a week or so.
Where: The apartments
Summary: Yuushi's coffee machine is broken. Inui thinks he's a retard for trying to throw it out in the dumpster. Inui fixes said coffee machine. Irritation, innuendo and surrealism ensue. Fanboying occurs and a date is made.
Warning/Rating: PG
Player Comments: If this isn't the biggest rollercoaster of a first meeting, I have no idea what is.
"Well if that is what you wish to do, then I see no reason to decline your offer." he stated, looking over to him, though there was a slight tinge of pink just dusting his pale skin at the very corners of those glasses that hid his eyes. He had never once been referred to as 'cute' and somehow didn't quite know how to deal with such a thing being said to him. Inui cleared his throat, trying to push back that very faint, but still present flush that seemed to have appeared while he was blindsided for that moment.
"Though are you sure the press and/or your fangirls might not get a bit uppity should we be seen in public together at some kind of restaurant?" he offered his opinion to the other man, because when one was in this industry one had to realise that those things were always needing to be taken into consideration. Then again, Inui himself was now going to be subject to that - even though he was only a new star.
Yuushi smirked, noting that he had in fact drawn an amusing reaction from the man. He hadn’t really blushed, had he? That must have been his imagination. Yes. However, there was clearly much more to add to his Inui fact file, wasn’t there?
The question of fan reactions had never bothered him, they were fickle minded at best, raising a ruckus about absolutely nothing and settling down once again when news of a new book came out. The press, and possibly Inui’s publicist, however, would probably take issue… But, he reminded himself, a restaurant had never been his intention and he decided to clarify. “You needn’t worry about mine or your fans-to-be,” he said. “My invitation was for the much humbler Osakan cuisine that I daresay I excel at. In return for homemade cakes, I thought I’d return in kind. Although if Japanese food is not to your tastes arrangements can be made.”
"Ah, no that sound acceptable." Inui nodded, never having been invited anywhere for homecooked anything before. "To be honest it's the first invitation into someone's home - aside from LAN parties once a month - that I've ever had. Most of the time if I'm asked to accompany someone for a meal, it's usually out. Thus I had no other indicator of what you were actually implying." he explained his reasoning and finished up his dessert.
"I would be happy to partake of your cuisine." he nodded. "I could say something along the lines of 'I bet you do this for all the girls..' but somehow I don't think I really need to." he chuckled, tone having turned teasing once more. A devious smirk crossing his face.
There was a new expression, Yuushi thought, returning the smirk, his expression unchanging as he said, “I’m sure I have no idea what you’re implying, Inui,” in a deliberate monotone.
"Oh?" Inui queried, a mock tone of surprised. "Excuse me for thinking you more charming and debonaire than you actually are then, Oshitari-san." The technician chuckled and adjusted his glasses as he took up his coffee cup once more and leaned back into the couch with a soft hum. "I was of the opinion you were quite a charmer - it seems my data is incorrect." he baited him and then waited - wanting to see if Oshitari would bite to engage in one of his most beloved past times. Banter.
“Oh, I must hasten to assure you that this is not the case,” Yuushi grinned. Well, part of him was, at least. That would do. The lighthearted tone of the conversation was a change from earlier, but welcome nonetheless. “And I will urge you to drop the honorific as I did. ‘Oshitari-san’ is my father. ‘-sensei’ would be appropriate if you were a follower of my work, which thankfully you aren’t.” Finishing the last of his cake he set down the plate. “As I was saying, your data is spot on. I am quite charming.”
"I see that. Though I'm liable to believe that you have yet to charm me, Oshitari." he smirked, the tone just that slightest bit challenging though still entirely light hearted and amusing. Yes, he was prodding at him. Prodding for a reaction or a rise. Something to continue down the road they were now on. "Nor should you want to - or am I to be corrected on these facts also?" he chuckled.
“You underestimate your appeal, Inui,” Yuushi replied with a flamboyant gesture. It had been quite a while since he’d had a conversation with someone who wasn’t yelling at him to meet a deadline or asking if he could put in a few more steamy scenes for reader appeal. “I see no reason why I shouldn’t attempt to charm you as well. After all, I am the one who invited you for dinner, am I not?”
"I have no reason to hold my appeal any higher than it already is, I'm afraid." he stated with a rather simple gesture of his hand. "However I suppose if that is your intention I should prepare myself thoroughly, as I'm quite sure I've never been charmed by a man of your..." Inui looked Oshitari up and down for a moment, pausing in finishing his sentence for a moment, as if looking for the right word. "...caliber" Inui's lips twitched up in a small smirk, rather obvious that he was enjoying their little two step back and forth.
Yuushi adjusted his glasses, meeting the other man’s gaze. If he hadn’t been having so much -fun- he would have taken a moment to muse on the complete character turnaround. “Hmm, although I have been known to be rather persuasive, I shall have to be certain that I don’t disappoint your expectations.”
Oh it wasn't a character turn around. It was just his deviousness starting to show. When the path they were on right then opened up, he tended to have a hard time not stepping down it. Call it innate curiosity. That thing that a lot of intelligent people are born with. Whatever it is. Inui was fascinated with this particular road and the ambiguities and reactions that came with it. He travelled it simply because he could and the ride was never dull. There was nothing more to it - though he would admit that he was rather choosy about how and who he tended to go about it with, but as with any situation, one must meet the correct variables for anything to occur. It was only natural that this was the same.
"I'm quite certain you won't." he assured with a knowing tone. "I am just insatiably curious as to what will occur and how you intend to go about it. Though I suppose I will have to just wait and find out, won't I?"
“Well of course,” Yuushi replied. The man was apparently an expert. Midas touch again, perhaps? Or simply another side of a complex character he had been right to defend from stereotyping. Had the novelist met him before that memorable exchange, he would never even have begun down that particular strain of thought. “Half the fun is in the wait itself, wouldn’t you agree? It makes things that much more interesting.”
"I suppose we could stipulate such a thing. However we would then have to assume I'd be pining over you until such a time. Which isn't likely to happen considering how hectic my days are." he pointed out. "Though I'm sure you could easily find ways to make me think of such things - what exactly, I'm not sure but then again you are the charmer and I am the charmee. It isn't my job to think of such things in our situation." he reminded. "I shall however... how is it put again? Ah yes.. I shall wait with bated breath." Inui smirked. "You'll excuse me if I'm not particularly good with words - they're not my strong point."
“Hmm, yes, we shall have to see just what your strong point happens to be, won’t we? But then again it could be that my charm leaves you speechless,” Yuushi chuckled. Even in playful banter Inui was never ceased to be perfectly logical: ‘considering how hectic my days are’ indeed. “But you can be assured that I will try my best to give you a reason to… as you said, pine over me.” If for nothing else but to see how that was even possible, he added as an amused afterthought, the mental imagery of a princess in a tower not quite suiting Inui.
No, definitely not a princess in a tower. More like a longing stable boy who was destined for great things, but no one ever believed he could do any better (and even he himself, didn't particularly have the faith in his gifts). "Mn, I'm sure figuring out just what it is I actually excel at will fascinate you to no end." he joked, the dry sarcasm entirely clear there. No, in Inui's opinion no one could ever find him fascinating in the slightest.
Though a reason to pine over the other man? That would be an interesting one. Somehow he wanted to see just what he'd come up with to try and achieve that end result. "You're most likely going to do nothing and hope that I wait for you to do something, which in turn will allow you the easiest route to ensnaring my attention." he stated, explaining the most viable strategy that he could think of at present that required the least about of effort with maximum results. "Am I wrong?" he teased.
“I have to admit I hadn’t even thought of that,” Yuushi conceded. “Although now that you yourself suggested it am led to believe it is feasible. However,” he added, following the thought through before Inui did, “If I do follow that strategy now that you mentioned it, you would most likely ignore my hard-to-get routine and render it a failure…”
He had noted the tone of sarcasm in his comment about his inherent fascinating-ness. Either Inui had -no idea- how interesting he was or he was toying with Yuushi’s interest (both genuine and playful) in him. The novelist suspected the former to be true, considering how the man said he was usually treated.
He sighed broadly, “No, I will use mysterious methods known only to those who have fallen to my charms to lure you to me. It would be that much better to keep you guessing, keep that delectable intellect sharp.”
"Ah, I see." Inui chuckled, an amused expression upon his face. "I look forward to your attempts to blindside me, then." His mind was already calculating the other most likely probabilities, wondering just what he'd do - though he still suspected that even if he'd mentioned it, his original opinion would still stand firm and true. That Oshitari was merely using misdirection in this given situation. Really though, Inui didn't think the novelist would try to charm him into bed anyway. Inui himself was most definitely not the type (or at least this is the premise he was working with currently).
"It won't be easy for you, but I'll look forward to it." he smirked.
Yuushi looked across at the man, wondering just what it was that Inui was looking forward to. He had had his fair share of conquests in his time but he doubted the man was the kind to fall for any degree of ‘charming’, short of perhaps drugging him.
“Oh I know it won’t be easy, Inui, that is the point, after all.” He made an expansive gesture, as though putting on airs. “As I said, the pursuit is the most exhilarating part of any kind of courtship. Of course, if you feel so inclined, I wouldn’t object to being pursued in turn,” he added, giving him a pointed look.
"Ah, but you see, me pursuing you is a rather redundant task." he said with the tilt of his head, his tone taking on a property of knowledge that had not been eluded to in their previous banter back and forth. "Now I could offer you explanation for this, or you could inquire as to why - and I will answer you and give the aforementioned explanation should you choose to ask. Though it would also give away the most efficient way for you to succeed in pursing me." he stated. "Do you see what kind of dilemma this puts us in?"
Oh yes, Inui wasn't playing hard to get. In fact Inui never started down this road with anyone he wouldn't already be privvy to having a carnal knowledge of. He was surprisingly picky that way, believe it or not. The truth, should it be told, was simple. Inui wasn't hard to get. He was immensely easy to get into bed if he was interested in such a thing. The only thing stopping that? People's need to go the long way about things. To try and figure out a problem when there was an answer staring them in the face. If Inui explained his courtship strategy, then the way to get into his pants would be most evident.
Inwardly, Yuushi frowned. By his implications, it would seem that pursuit… wouldn’t actually be necessary, and that was an impossibility… wasn’t it? Even for the most logical of souls, wasn’t there a need for - for lack of a less inappropriate (or perhaps appropriate) term- foreplay? Perhaps in some ways he was as hopeless at romance as the readers he wrote for, but surely no one was that -to the point-?
Considering that this was Inui, and the fact that he had said pursuit would be redundant, Yuushi was beginning to rethink that. Dropping the suaveness for a moment, he felt that if he didn’t ask the question he would be plagued by the thought for far too long. Pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose, he looked at the man. “And so if I were to drop all thoughts of the chase, put down my coffee cup and simply say, voulez-vous coucher avec moi, you would…”
"Given the fact I don't speak French, I would most likely say 'I have absolutely no idea what you just said'." he responded with a laugh and then set his cup down. "However, the fact that I believe your tone is universal - I would say yes." It seems the other man had as much of a brain as he would have hoped. Though for some reason the other man seemed to think that no chase meant to fun. Well... Inui didn't believe that was true. He may not have been that challenging to get into the bedroom but that did not mean that what occurred there was all cut and dry.
"However, since you have figured it out - it is my assumption that without a chase, you would become bored and uninterested before anything even began. Given your previous responses of course." Inui tilted his head and adjusted his glasses. "I don't know what kind of people you've slept with before, however - but I'm sure you've either had them throw themselves at you or be incredibly difficult to persuade. I am not particularly either. Though may I remind you that the chase and the persuading does not end when you get the agreement to go back into the bedroom. At least not with me." Inui smirked almost deviously.
"I am in a sense - cutting to the real chase."
“I concede your point,” Yuushi replied. Of course, he’d never even considered bedding one of the starry-eyed admirers who, as Inui had put it, threw themselves at him, but the fact of the matter was that most of his liaisons had been with people who had actually played back in the game of cat and mouse; it was more about how well you cloaked your willingness to be persuaded. This did not, he told himself, apply to Inui.
Fascinating.
“Hmm, in the absence of a pursuit to capture my attention, you will have to live up to those words,” he continued, meeting his smirk, “But I will say to your credit that I find it hard to believe that you can ever quite bore me.” This was true, and it worked in the context as well, so it wasn’t so much a confession of interest as a continuation of their banter.
Oh Inui was more than willing to be persuaded. He wouldn't have run down this road to see where it got him unless he was fully aware where he could end up. This situation was one of many outcomes. Oshitari punching him in the face was another (however unlikely it was). No, Inui was well aware of it all. He made no promises and he asked for none, either.
"The only way you're going to find out if I live up to them or not, is to ask the question outside of a neutral context, then." Of course this was their first meeting and Inui wasn't usually one to use fixing a man's coffee machine and feeding him dessert as a precursor to sexual intercourse. In fact it was getting into to have sexual intercourse that was the real chase (as Oshitari may or may not find out, depending on his actions).
"Unless of course you're going to wait until our dinner date to pop such a question into real time context?" Another tilt of his head, this time in question. Would he or wouldn't he? Yes or no? Inui wasn't even going to bother calculating the statistics, he already knew that he was going to drive the novelist batty just because he didn't exist on the normal human social plane when it came to dancing back and forth about sex. It seemed Oshitari was having a hard time dealing with the fact it was that easy to get a 'yes' from him.
Yuushi was beginning to think it was time he threw in the towel. Not that Inui had ceased to be interesting, far- far from it, but he was simply at a loss, and it was clear that the other man deduced as much. He decided, for the moment, to drop the coolness and give him the straightest (well, quite the opposite, really) answer of the evening.
“Yes,” he replied, smirking. “I was intending to wait, and not out of a desire to avoid the eventuality, if that is what you will read it as. My reasons are simple; because I find home made sushi rather aphrodisiacal and I enjoy setting some form of a mood. And because you are expecting a guest tonight and it would be rude.”
"Indeed. It is a weeknight. I have a guest at midnight every weeknight." Inui stated rather simply with a shrug. "Of course plans in advance can and will be made. In addition, I agree fixing your coffee machine is not a prelude to any form of sexual experience." Inui nodded. "That and it is only natural you would set a mood - you're a romance novelist, you're meant to be the master of all masters." he teased. "Not to mention it is just something that people fond of words and atmosphere tend to do."
Nodding, Inui stood and started to pack the machine up for Oshitari, merely as something for him to busy himself with as he'd finished his cup of coffee. "Besides, I'm not usually one to jump into bed on the first date." Inui laughed. "Even if it is easy to get me to state my openness to the idea of ending up there right here and now."
Yuushi chuckled. “I am rather a sucker for atmosphere, I’m afraid,” he said. “Or I’d be tempted to take you up on that offer.”
His coffee had gone painfully cold but he swallowed it before setting his cup down. Not quite certain what time it was, he surmised that Inui’s act of turning his attention to the coffee machine as a subtle hint that he should start thinking of leaving- although he knew that if Inui wanted him to leave he would outright tell him so. “Hmm, dinner on a weekend, then?” He couldn’t help but think he sounded like a high schooler confirming a date. “I wouldn’t want to intrude on a… tradition.”
"It's not really a tradition." Inui replied with a flick of a wave over his shoulder. "It's just me looking after my manager. The man doesn't eat and he doesn't sleep and the only way I can get him to function like a human being and spend time with his dog is to give him a curfew." Inui realised at that point just how strange that sounded when it was simply a manager/talent relationship. "So we watch Dr. Who at midnight and I feed him a snack and he toddles off to bed like a good boy should." he laughed and ran a hand through his hair, sitting back against the chair once he was done with the coffee machine, leaving it sit neatly and ready to go on the table.
"He's a demon with words, that man. A truly baffling talent, but he's so unbelievably innocent." he mused. "It's hard not to wonder if he's still stuck in middle school or not sometimes." Another shake of his head, before he changed the direction again. "However that does sound pleasing. It's not like us geeks have much planned on Saturday nights." Inui confirmed which day would be more suitable for him. "How does that sound to you?"
Yuushi chuckled at Inui’s description of his manager- his mind popped up a card that reminded him that he was named Yanagi and had referred to his works as ‘bodice rippers’. Another character to look forward to, then. He wondered briefly if there was anyone in the whole building who was perfectly honest about who they were.
“Perfect,” he replied. “Unless my editor decides to hound me with a deadline… Ah, actually, especially if my editor decides to hound me with a deadline. And don’t sell your free weekends short, you’re on the threshold to fame and fortune after all.” He sighed heavily, putting a hand to his forehead in a mock tragic gesture. “It would be so painful to be stood up.”
"Oh the melodrama?" the sarcastic as hell comment came with a smirk the size of China and a little chuckle that said 'oh wouldn't you just be so heartbroken if I didn't' (even that was sarcastic). "I'm sure you'd go on. You'd manage without me somehow." he shorted slightly. Like anyone needed Inui in their lives to function (well, aside from Yanagi in some cases - but those were merely the things Inui took upon himself to try and help him with because he couldn't understand how someone could exist the way that man did).
"In addition, you get the benefit of saying 'yeah, you know that guy - I had a date with him before he was famous'." he laughed. "Not that it will do any good for your reputation of course."
“Hmm, no, I can actually see it working,” Yuushi continued thoughtfully. “Your fans will be inspired to see what kind of man I am, and I just might attract a whole new readership. And vice versa, of course.” He began to make another gesture to complain about how Inui could capitalise on his own fans, but was compelled to cut himself short as his gaze fell on a poster on one of his walls.
A poster that Oshitari Yuushi had never, in all his life, expected to see again. A poster that predicted in bold, towering yellow letters, the advent of the Proverbial Doomsday Llama. Dropping every single one of his usual facades, both intentional and intrinsic, he pointed. “Oi,” he managed, not caring in the least that he sounded less cultured than he had all evening. “That…”
Inui was following the other's train of thought with an amused expression until he heard a very uncharismatic 'Oi' and blinked in confusion. He stopped for a moment to survey the novelist with curiosity. It seemed he was surprised, shocked and almost... mortified?... by something he'd seen in Inui's apartment. Well, he may be a bachelor and some papers may not be sorted, but he wasn't dirty or unclean perse. So it couldn't have been that.
Slowly he let his eyes trailed along the outstretched arm with the pointed finger, then after that looked to where he was pointing. One of his framed Bmovie posters. One of Inui's favourites, actually. "That... would be an extremely rare poster." Inui stated and then moved over to it with a chuckle, running his hand down the frame. "When I was a kid I snagged it from the old local cinema before the people to tear it up with the rest of them." he said, the fondness in his voice unmistakable. "It's one of my all time favourite movies. Unfortunately there were barely any credits on the end of the reel." Inui muttered before going over to another shelf and hold up a film cannister. "But I have the original in film from that cinema - and the VHS and remastered DVD." he laughed, pointing them all out.
"Bmovies are the greatest thing in the universe... it's sad they don't really get made anymore. It's like the end of an era that let kids dream of being absolutely anything. Doing anything. Making the impossible, possible... movies like this made me want to do special effects. Movies like this kept me busy for hours after I wasn't allowed to build things anymore. Made me be an usher in middle school for shit pay just so I could watch them... so I could dream as well." Realising that was far, far to eloquent for himself, Inui stopped talking, running his fingers over the tin in front of him. "Well, I really think that's quite enough from me." he chuckled, trying to fob all of it off as something that didn't mean the world to him.
Yuushi was attempting with every fibre of his being to regain his famed composure, but Inui’s -moment- made him falter once more. While on one hand he was utterly surprised to see the man’s obvious passion for the B-movie genre to the point of launching into a rather eloquent soliloquy on them, the fact that he had launched into it on account of this particular movie only made things worse.
Oh yes, he would never forget that day in middle school when his father who had been irritable for weeks because his son and heir was going on about wanting to become a writer, had called him into his office and introduced him to a rather suspicious looking group of people who had ‘his first ever writing assignment’ for him. A script, they’d said, a real movie script, and Yuushi had been suitably excited. Until they told him it was about a llama. Not just any llama, a doomsday llama.
It had only been the first in a series of bizarre films he’d worked on, but unknown to his parents it had only inspired him to stick to his determination. Yes, he supposed, perhaps the llama had been his license to dream too. And to learn that he had actually had an effect on someone… to the point of being among ‘favourites’… He hated to admit it but it gave him that inexplicable feeling of warmth in his heart.
It was possibly the first time all evening that he avoided Inui’s gaze. “I… wrote it.”
Inui almost dropped the can. The credits had been barely there on the movie. There had been no listing of the crew other than that of the director. The director and the cast and that was it. Nothing. No one. There had been no other information about that film - and many of the others that he loved - written at all. Hell, when the genre was more serious of course there had been information about them. They were all over MST3k! But not these films. These films were mysteries... and this man. This... gloriously sublte, arrogant, 'I'm too cool for school' richboy was standing there telling him that he wrote it?!.
Impossible... Impossible. The man was barely older than him - if he was older than Inui at all. No. It didn't add up. Nothing made sense and for some reason he couldn't believe it... until he looked at Oshitari's face. It had been the only time that man couldn't make eye contact with him. The only time he wasn't looking like he was going to flaunt his work, even if it wasn't Inui's taste.
"...you... you would have had to have been a teenager." he murmured. "Unless you've had extensive cosmetic surgery - but I doubt that." The awe was clear in his voice and he was clutching the film tightly.
Yuushi was used to fans of his work, mostly of the squealing-swooning-lingerie -throwing variety. If he hadn’t been so caught off guard himself he might have been interested in Inui’s sheer expressiveness over the course of this conversation, but talking about his adventures in scriptwriting had never been altogether in his comfort zone. At least not until he met someone who actually enjoyed them.
This was the first time someone he knew, he respected on one level… “I was thirteen,” he replied. “My first writing assignment. Father -arranged- it, so I wasn’t credited. There are some others I worked on too,” he offered, then realised Inui had most likely seen all of those as well.
"..you're my age." Inui almost fell over. Almost. Instead he went to his shelf and skimmed to every single movie that had only credits for directors and pulled them all out. "And these?" His glasses hid the majority of his expression. The only way one could really tell was if Inui was blatantly smirking or when his eyebrows changed position. "None of them mention the writer. Not one. There's no information about any of these films anywhere." Those brows furrowed. Somehow it was almost too much to take in. Did Oshitari as a boy even want to make those films? Everything on the man's face said he was embarrassed by the fact that they even existed. Somehow... somehow that hurt. Something inside his chest clenched and his unseen eyes were burning.
These were his dreams. His past and what he'd based his present off, and coming face to face with a man that didn't want to really admit they were his... or was at the very least incredibly reluctant to... it made him almost want to throttle him. Scream at him. Because to Inui they were great. To reject them rejected his entire purpose and inspiration in life and it made him feel small. Smaller than he cared to be... because even if he didn't express his feelings about it all that often, it didn't mean the passion wasn't still there, hidden and locked away under a mask of apathy. Of never-ending objectiveness.
"How many of these did you write and never say anything about?" Maybe he was a little too passionate about this. Maybe it was just the fact he was particularly attached to the feelings he associated with these specific films.. he didn't know. "Did you think that they'd reach no one?" Oh yes, Inui could see the embarrassment. The 'oh god someone actually watched those' expression on Oshitari's face had said it all. It pissed him off. Even if his voice was calm, his passion wasn't. His eyes weren't.. and even if they couldn't be seen, it was clear that Inui wasn't not a cold man. He acted like one... but he wasn't one. It just made him feel stupid that his dreams were based on someone's past that would rather be forgotten.
And it was rare... that Inui ever felt stupid.
Had the situations been different, had he been in the comfort of his home, Yuushi might have been inclined to react more emotionally, so painful was the bite behind Inui’s question, the emotion in his voice.
But he was in Inui’s house, and the man… well, he’d pushed another button, this one completely unintentionally. It was just his default reaction; he had come to be distinctly uncomfortable about mentions of his early scripts after a series of discomforting circumstances. Sure, he still was as he once had been, proud of his work; llamas, penguins, the lot of them, of being able to put into words whatever a ragtag group of ambitious young men would convey to him through actions and mime. Inui was justified in asking if he thought they would reach no one- Yuushi never had, not once.
He never wrote something if he didn’t enjoy it, not the romance novels that caused critics to question his credibility as a writer, not the scripts of questionable quality he’d written as an ambitious child.
It was just that adopting popular opinion had been so much easier. It was only now, meeting someone whose life had actually been touched by the films that he was beginning to realise how wrong he’d been.
“Several,” he began, answering the question. “I was never in the credits because that was part of the arrangement my parents made, I wasn’t to receive payment for the work.” He sighed. “I remember believing in them, in the movies, in what I was writing.” He wasn’t about to defend himself saying he’d faced a tough crowd or that it had been part of his angsty past, that was none of Inui’s concern. “But until today you are the first person to admit to having watched them. To having enjoyed them.” And that meant more to him than even Yuushi himself knew.
"A lot of people enjoyed them." he stated, slowly sliding each one back into place. "Paid.. so much just to get one of the limited number of copies that circulated. You're a fucking icon." Inui took a deep breath and tried to swallow everything he was feeling right then, even though the last part came out in a somewhat disbelieving chuckle. It was about how much he thought those romance novels that made the other man popular were stupid. How much he'd wished he'd just kept writing these dodgey science fiction films... but he couldn't say that. Wouldn't say that. Not everyone liked bmovies. Not everyone liked romance novels. It was illogical to let his emotional attachment have any more weight than any other person's opinion. Inui knew that. Saying those things were meaningless, even if they had been made perfectly clear by that momentary lapse in emotive repression.
"I take back what I said on your jounal that first time. I am a fan. Just of where you started as opposed to where you've ended up." Inui adjusted those glasses and set the movie tin back on its shelf, just where he'd got it from. "So many people want to know who wrote these. So many people wanted them to keep being made... but the writer disappeared off the face of the planet and left a generation hanging. He didn't make anymore." Finally, Inui turned back around to face the man on his couch.
"We all speculated you died. Some eccentric old billionaire that left all these old manuscripts behind, and your fortune was spent on making shitty bmovies." The technician let a kind of ironic smile onto his face. "There was even a sci-fi audio drama made by amatuers on a forum that serialised the discovery of a fake manuscript.. an unfinished epic to pick up with the first 'Alien Toasters of Gorgon 5' left off." he shook his head. "It's not because the movies were masters of the film genre... it's that they were made with the ideals that we all had. The essence of what we all wanted to do." Inui came over and sat back down, fingers lacing as he rested his elbows on his knees.
"..and here you are. A romance novelist. Pleasing the unsatisfied housewives of the nation. Giving teenage girls hopes and dreams of true love and passion." It was essentially the same thing except... well except nothing. It was just romance novels were more of a phase - whereas the bmovies had cult followings. Conspiracy theories. People that did almost anything to get their hands on memorabilia for them.
"I can't say the truth is as exciting as was speculated." he chuckled weakly, "But my opinion is no greater than anyone else's. I only have my likes and my dislikes. My apologies if I said anything to offend you. It's just surreal... meeting one of the people who inspired most of my goals in life."
Inui was wrong in having thought he’d offended him. Yuushi was, if anything, moved, more than he had ever been of late.
And, yes, he was right to be disenchanted that the crafter of the works that were so important to him was, well, himself. “I don’t blame you,” he said, careful not to sound too disappointed in himself. “I should be honoured, flattered even that what I wrote touched you so...” He shook his head. The poster seemed to sneer down at him, trying to make him feel guilty for having admitted to writing it. How much easier it would have been if he’d not said anything, allowed the conspiracy theories to continue. Then he wouldn’t have to face the truth himself; that he was responsible for what he wrote. He felt as though he owed Inui, and perhaps the others like him, an apology, but the idea felt hollow, redundant. He felt… lost.
Inui reached out and put a hand on Oshitari's shoulder, having found it bleedingly obvious that the other seemed to feel disheartened? Bad? Off colour? Something... about what he'd said. Though it didn't seem to be all that happy. Maybe it was because of the way Inui had phrased everything. It seemed so subjective and one-sided, but then again most opinions were, even if they were referenced. "Don't sound like that." he stated, even if it didn't really sound like Oshitari had been down - Inui was immune to the facade people generally liked to put forth. It really did irritate some people, though.
"If what you do now makes you happy then do it." That was the end of it. Honestly, that was really all that mattered in a person's life. 100%. No doubt in Inui's mind. "While I can't really say I'm prone to what just happened, don't let it belittle what you've made." Inui nodded. "I'll keep your secret. Vulcan's honour." Inui made the Spock symbol with his hand and chuckled a little, some part of him still couldn't believe it, though. Oshitari was lucky he hadn't fanboyed. That would have been embarrassing.
So he had been that obvious, had he? Look at me I’m angsting, comfort me? Ridiculous. “Do forgive me for behaving like a schoolboy who needs to be told everything would be all right,” Yuushi chuckled softly, a gesture of gratitude for Inui’s words. He had done whatever he’d wanted to his whole life, hadn’t he? Well, for the most part, anyway, right from declaring he was a writer to running off to prove it.
“And while I don’t doubt your reliability, I don’t think I should keep it a secret,” he said. “I don’t think I will,” he repeated, affirming it to himself as well. It wasn’t going to affect his current readership at all, anyway, considering that they pretended his only non-genre work didn’t exist. “I’ve never written something I didn’t enjoy, after all.” As an afterthought, he added, “I don’t suppose you want to take a look at the first drafts of Llama and some others?” He knew if he was ever to meet Margaret Mitchell he'd want to, but he wasn't certain how Inui would take it.
Inui nodded in recognition of everything Oshitari said, one after the other with the socially expected little hums. Though at that last part his head kind of just kept nodding, but his brain was kind of repeating it over and over. It was like he was caught in a recursive loop. There was almost an eerie silence. Like the calm before the storm. He looked like he had a massive neon sign slapped to his forehead reading "DATA PROCESSING" in large san-serif letters. The next sign that would have flashed up in that same type would have been "THIS WAY LIES MADNESS" in a very Gibson-esque manner, with a flashing sign pointing to Oshitari.
"...the...original first... drafts?" He seemed in shock. Awe. He didn't know what he was but the serious inner fanboy in him was about to explode and somehow in one gigantic garbled sentence he managed to give an affirmative answer. It was like an alien language and he could swear he was about to hyperventilate. He knew he had to calm down. He couldn't just act this way in front of the other man. Inui knew how irritating it was for the people who had to deal with it. He'd watched it from the background. Seen it in full force and that incoherent sentence was only the beginning.
"...ah, I mean..." he cleared his throat. "I'd like that."
That he hadn’t expected. Yuushi just stopped short of comically rubbing his eyes, so surprised was he from the reaction- the wave of reactions (or lack thereof, in a way) that had flitted across Inui’s usually composed features. This was different from when he’d been talking about the poster. This was…
But for the life of him, Inui was reminding him of a young woman at one of the book signing events he’d attended, completely at a loss for what she wanted to say and sufficing to make do with elaborate gestures. Which meant this was…
His rollercoaster analogy came back to him, only this was the part of it that paused on the brink of a gigantic drop then politely pulled you back out of concern for your heart. This was Inui… being a fan.
The novelist nodded, not wanting to make the man conscious, or to admit that he was feeling a little conscious himself. “It gives you further incentive to take up my dinner offer, although since you already agreed perhaps I should have kept this to lure you there later,” he added lightly, pushing his glasses up once again. He’d have to check if he had any other leftover relics from back then; it was probable that his clutterbug tendencies had prevented him from throwing anything away for sentimental value. “I’ll just have to see if I can surprise you.”
Inui averted his gaze slightly and tried to hide the barely-there dusting of pink that had appared on just the very tops of his cheekbones. Unfortunately for Inui, monitor tanned skin did nothing if bring it out more than he would have liked. He hadn't really just sounded like that, had he? There was an inner surge of dread, but he pushed it aside for his regular composed expression and ran a hand through his hair calmingly.
"You can always save it for a later time." he responded. "I'm a patient man, after all. Things come in time if one waits long enough." Inui gestured to Oshitari himself. "You're here, against all conceivable odds, sitting in my lounge room offering me something that is meant to be impossible. You're also here asking me to dinner, which while not nearly as impossible as the former, isn't something one would call a regular occurrence."
There was another smirk tugging just at the corner of his lips. "I'm sure you'd give me a coronary if you surprised me any more this evening, or even this week. You have to realise that week geeks don't get out much." he teased. "At least not until convention season begins." There was another soft laugh as he finally regained full control over himself.
"Pacing ourselves would be wise - and probably more beneficial, in the long run." Inui's tone was knowing. Knowing and leading. Trying to hook Oshitari. Bait him into the intrigue even more than he already was.
And he was back. There was the man Yuushi had been speaking to all evening- save the blush that he had wondered if he was hallucinating again. Really he thought to himself, How can someone be so obstinately captivating and perfectly logical at the same time?
He sighed, wondering if he preferred the fan; he’d been easier to figure out, at any rate, or so he assumed. Running a hand through his hair, he looked up, meeting his smirk. “Very well,” he said. “I didn’t think you were the whirlwind relationship kind of man. Slow and easy it will be then. With the surprises evenly paced.”
Inui smirked. "Well, we'll see how it goes." he chuckled and stood. "For now, this is a good place to end our first chapter - or was it a prelude?" Nodding to the newly fixed and neatly packaged coffee machine, Inui went on to speak further. "Remember: Let it brew a full pot. Turn it off. Clean the filter. Then you will have achieved coffee machine zen."
No, it didn't seem he could resist. This was just too open to his sense of humour, really it was. Though he would most definitely be looking forward to a second encounter with this man. This man who seemed to irritate, stimulate and baffle him all at once (that was the most probable reason for his excitement actually). "Until we turn the next page, Oshtiari." he offered a hand to the man so he could shake it.
Yuushi chuckled at the profuseness of literary metaphors. “A prelude indeed,” he replied, taking the proffered hand. To what he expected to be quite the page-turner, he added to himself in some amusement. A strange variety of psychological thriller, perhaps, on a very human level. He gathered the coffee machine that had unknowingly been the focal point of the entire encounter, inclining his head in a gesture of gratitude to the man. “And to thicken the plot, I just may owe you my life as well,” he remarked with a self-depreciating smirk, before adding, in all sincerity to the man who had restored his caffeine supply and, to some degree, his mental faculties, “Thank you.”
"All in a day's work for The Technician." Inui chuckled and walked him to the door. "Enjoy the caffeine - and incidentally nice to meet you." he tilted his head a little, quirking a brow. "It was surreal... but nevertheless, nice." Concluding that thought, he nodded.
Surreal, Yuushi agreed. It had been quite an encounter between two complete strangers, after all. “Likewise,” he replied, echoing the thought, “Nice.”
Stepping out of the apartment, he noted the night air was chill, even in the corridors of the highrise. “The pain of parting is nothing to the joy of meeting again,” he mused aloud, quoting Dickens. “I look forward to it.”
"Indeed." Was all Inui replied with, nodding his goodbye to the other man. It was strange. That was one intense first meeting, despite having just been fixing Oshitari's coffee machine. Maybe Inui ndeeded to get out more if he was that starved for company. It was time to start up Unreal 3 competition league again, he mused. Slowly he closed the door when the other got out of sight and then picked up Ding who was at his feet. "Let's go and watch Star Trek, hm?" he patter her lovingly and then went about his routine as normal, putting the constant back into his life that meeting Oshitari in such a way had pushed off balance. Honestly, that guy still pissed him off. Maybe just in a good way. He determined their next encounter would surely be interesting...