Writers Block Part 2
Ijuuin x Yuu Yanase
Yuu stood in the shower that morning longer than usual letting the warm water wash over his back. After he'd officially made a fool of himself on the phone with the manga author he admired the most, he was officially depressed.
"It could have been worse, at least he still asked you to come." Chiaki pointed out helpfully.
"That's not the point… "Yuu retorted, drying his hair with a hand towel. "I acted like an idiot." He sulked, leaning against the couch holding the phone to his ear with his shoulder. He stood up and started struggling into his jeans. "What do I even wear?" He whined, ripping them off defeated.
Chiaki frowned on the other line. "Hmm…what do you normally wear?" He struggled to remember how Yuu normally looked when he came to help him with his work. "Clothes I guess." Chiaki settled dimly.
Yuu laughed a little at his childhood friend's naivete. "Well I definitely will be wearing clothes idiot." He grabbed a pair of nicer slacks and pulled them on jerkily.
"Still! I can't believe you're meeting Ijuuin Sensei!" Chiaki pretended to weep playfully. "I'm so jealous! He's so cool!"
Yuu nodded to no one, smiling absent mindedly, "It's not that big of a deal," he responded cooly. "And you're pretty popular too ya know."
"Yea but- The Kan! Gahhh!" Chiaki squealed excitedly.
Yuu grinned even harder.
"Do you think you can get me an autograph?! Make him draw something and get him to sign it Yuu."
"Yea sure…" Yuu replied obligingly. Why was he saying yes to a request like that? Would it be weird if he asked Sensei for an autograph for his child hood friend?
"I'll try my best ok?" He added as a qualifier to his initial response.
"You're the best Yuu!" Chiaki exclaimed happily.
Yuu frowned immediately, and bit his lower lip anxiously.
Why did Chiaki still say things like that?
There was a pause and then he heard Chiaki's enthusiastic voice again. "Hold on Yuu, Hatori is back…actually is it ok if I call you back? Hatori needs me."
Yuu grimaced silently holding the phone away from his ear. "Yea sure… I'll talk to you later," he answered readily, hanging up.
Ijuuin awoke disturbed hearing the loud buzzing of the apartment bell even through his bedroom wall. He rolled over and looked at the clock above his bed with blurred eyes, and slid slowly out of the bed still wearing the same clothes as the day before.
Buzz. Buzz. Buzz.
"Coming!" He called back, tripping a bit over some research papers he had lying in the middle of the floor. He grumbled tetchily as the buzzing stopped, flipping up the video monitor.
"Who is there?" Ijuuin asked bothered.
"Yanase ." Yuu answered back simply. Usually he would give his full name to a client. Why was he acting cool?
Ijuuin opened the door slowly, eyeing the man who was almost a foot lesser, and rubbed the back of his neck.
"It's early." He said grumpily.
Yuu narrowed his eyes at the man, tugging at the bracelet on this wrist. "You said 10am...and not to be late." Yuu gaped at Ijuuin closely, observing him methodically. Ijuuin looked terrible, definitely not what he expected; bags, tousled hair, red eyes, and musty, "author meeting a deadline", stench.
"I guess come in…" Ijuuin said walking away from the door letting it creak open a bit. Yuu stepped inside carefully, avoiding touching anything in the cramped yet vast space. There were books everywhere, a mountain of paperwork on the side of him, and a huge work table in the middle of the room. The apartment itself was rather lavish, but the state of it unsettling.
"Well…" Yuu said placing his bag on the table cautiously. "Tell me everything."
Ijuuin looked up at him confusedly. "Everything?" He said yawning loudly, sitting at the end of the table.
"How long do we have? What's due, what do you have already done…" he looked around the room again. He wanted to bite his tongue, but his audacity wasn't something he could subdue. "And excuse me...not to be rude, but how can you work like this?" He asked incredulously eyeing the mess.
"3 weeks, my manuscript, and I just turned in the draft," he countered rubbing through his hair. "And it's not always like this." He added matter-of-factly. "I don't let my cleaning lady come when my work is late."
Yuu nodded slowly looking at him unimpressed.
"Problem?" Ijuuin said standing up and moving towards the kitchen.
"Not at all," replied Yuu smiling falsely, sitting down at the table.
Ijuuin shuffled around his contrastingly clean kitchen and made coffee for himself. He went to close the cabinet and paused looking over his shoulder.
"Do you want coffee then?" He called into the living room where Yuu was unpacking his bag.
Yuu hesitated, thinking it would be impolite to refuse.
"Sure." He decided reluctantly.
Ijuuin made another cup and sat it in front of Yuu slowly.
"So…you think we can make it?" He asked more business like than Yuu expected." I have 1 more assistant too…the other is getting married." He added testily.
"Oh?" Yuu said opening up his art pencil case. "You don't seem too happy about that…unrequited love?" He looked over at Ijuuin curiously focusing his wide crimson eyes on Sensei. He was a ruggedly looking man. Dark onyx eyes and jet black hair. Yuu found himself speculating how old Sensei was.
"No I've had enough of those." Ijuuin mumbled sipping his coffee smiling to himself gently. The peaceful complacency made his features a lot less bedraggled. Yuu wondered whether he was joking, but uncharacteristically, decided not to ask.
"Well…I honestly don't think we have a problem." He started confidently. "You're actually a lot farther than a lot of the mangaka I work with Sensei." Yuu smiled in what he hoped was sweetly tilting his head a little. "The most important thing, is getting the drawing done, when is the next time an assistant can come in?" He asked gathering Ijuuin's already finished pages.
"Next Tuesday." He answered, watching Yuu carefully.
"Ok. Let's get as much done as we can then."
Yuu had a way of making the authors work with feel comfortable, and Ijuuin wasn't the exception. He nodded and gave Yuu the green light to go ahead working on the pages that were unfinished that he'd started.
"In this part, I want him to add too much salt to the Donburi." Ijuuin said standing over top of Yuu. "The Kan should be really depressed about it, maybe add a little shadow there." Ijuuin pointed, instructing him carefully making sure the shading and lines were done correctly.
"How's that then?" Yuu said lifting the page off the work table.
Five days had passed since coming to work with Ijuuin-sensei. Aside from his unbearably dirty apartment, Ijuuin was an agreeable man. He discovered he worked for Murakawa Publishing for almost 10 years, which was a long time as far as mangaka went, and he was more dedicated to his work than Yuu expected him to be. He knew exactly what he wanted. For manga authors, that was unusual to say the least.
"That's….well that's perfect Yanase-san." He said proudly, smiling leaning in a bit closer to point to a particularly well drawn part.
Yuu cut his eye to the larger man, standing next to him. He noticed himself looking at Ijuuin in his peripheral, but quickly turning his eyes forward when Ijuuin's shoulder rubbed up against his. He bit his lip feeling anxious for some reason.
"Well Yanase, I think that's it for today." He said yawning loudly and moving away from him.
"But Sensei, its only 10pm?" Yuu was thankful for the distance, but he couldn't help questioning why Ijuuin was ending their day so early.
"I have a wedding to go to tomorrow actually." Ijuinn answered, gathering some papers.
"Oh." Yuu said quietly.
Why was he disappointed?
"Well I guess I'll go th-"
"Say…I'm starving!"Ijuuin exclaimed interrupting him. "All this food talk has made me hungry." He shoved the papers into the portfolio quickly. "How about it? Want to catch a late dinner Yanase-san?"
Yuu stared back at him blankly considering. He opened his mouth about to decline, but then couldn't find a reason to.
"It's just dinner you idiot," he thought.
"Certainly." He smiled kindly. "Thank you for offering."
Ijuuin smiled back, and Yuu's heart sped up again. He cleared his throat awkwardly eager to change the subject.
"Say, Ijuuin Sensei… not to be a nag, but what's with all the books?" There were large, empty book case shelves, covering the apartment walls. "There are plenty of places for them." He continued unabashed.
"I just moved here about a month ago." He answered pulling on his jacket. "I just needed a fresh start."
Yuu nodded and stood up extending over. He flexed his back elegantly, and stood back up twisting his neck, closing his eyes feeling the stretch of his muscles. Ijuuin watched him unnoticed, intensely tracing his form with eyes.
"Starting fresh huh?" Yuu started again presumptuously straightening up. He grabbed his jacket from the chair. "Bad break up?" He said both teasingly and sympathetic.
"Something like that," Ijuuin said grabbing his keys.
Yuu, not expecting him even to reply shifted uncomfortably.
"How about you Yanase-san? Are you married? Do you have a girlfriend? "
Yuu shook his head immediately, but thinking of him.
Chiaki...that sick like, empty feeling in his stomach he got whenever he thought of his child hood friend rose up inside of him.
"No…no one." He answered truthfully. "I guess I'm kind of a loaner." He continued to quell the feeling. "I don't take a liking to many people."
Ijuuin nodded. "Then I suppose I should feel lucky about you going out on a date with me," he added, walking towards the front door.
Even though Ijuuin said it nonchalantly, Yuu's ears immediately reddened and he was glad Sensei's back was turned towards him. Yuu knew he didn't mean a "date" in the romantic sense, but he couldn't help feeling disconcerted.
To quiet his mind, and ease his discomfit, instead of a response Yuu laughed hysterically, following him out of the house.
