One drawer should have been enough.
Because, really, how many drawers could Touichirou possibly need? He wore the same suit every day, only had the one set of pajamas that she'd seen, and as far as she knew he didn't wear anything else when he was off the clock. Well he was never truly 'off the clock', such a thing was impossible in their line of work. They could get close to it though, they had to get close to it if this thing was going to work.
One drawer would work.
"There." said Shiori as she slammed the drawer shut. The bottom right drawer of her dresser, a place to deposit extra pairs of pajama pants and the occasional friendless sock. She had consolidated everything in there and thrown out the socks. No space, not for useless things. She needed all the space she could get. She had bought this house with the intention of it housing one person, her, and whatever pets she felt like getting. She had never planned on it housing two.
Even temporarily.
Touichirou had slept over before, and she with him, but never for more than two nights at a time. Long enough for him to store a toothbrush here as well as some deodorant and one of his incredibly stiff brushes. He already had part of a shelf in her medicine cabinet. A drawer in her room…that wasn't so much different, so very different. She just had to move some stuff around, that was all. It hadn't been so much…just one drawer.
One drawer would turn to two.
She opened the bottom right drawer. It was overstuffed now, nightshirts and pajama pants. If she wound up giving him this drawer then she would have to start clearing things out. She'd have to come in with a garbage bag and start clearing out things she didn't wear that often anymore. That oversized shirt she'd gotten at Summer Fest, the nightgown with the puppy on it that she spilled coffee all over, all those pairs of hose that she kept on telling herself she'd throw away….that the holes weren't so bad…and it wouldn't stop there, no. He probably had more clothes than she had seen. If he needed more space then she was going to have to get a new dresser…
She didn't want a new dresser.
This was her dresser. Mirrored sides, white gold accents, crystal knobs on the front….she had seen it, she had wanted it, and now it was hers. She had gone to the furniture store on her own and picked out what she wanted. Not Ikea, not the junk room at the temple, not liberated from some nearly dead relative's attic. This was hers. Everything in this room was hers and…and this house was hers. She had bought it herself, legally, with money she had made on her own, less than legally, and…and she didn't have any space for anything new…
She was going to have to Marie Kondo her entire house.
"Does this spark joy?" asked Shiori as she picked up her jewelry box. The woman in the mirror looked back at her. She didn't look joyful. It was just some cheap thing she had gotten at the craft store and glued shells too, like a little girl would have. This was just a box for various pieces of jewelry, most of which did not spark joy…but then again what did? She enjoyed her stuff, the stuff she had gotten on her own, so did that mean that joy had been sparked? And who defined 'joy' anyway? And why did everything she owned have to make her feel like she was about to jump over the moon? And why-
Calm. Down.
This was her house, everything in it sparked joy, and even if it didn't then it wouldn't have mattered. She was getting ahead of herself. This was just going to be for a week. That was all. A week to test things out…she played with the ring on her finger. She would see how she felt in a week, and how he felt too. Touichirou could have been a world class diver the way he jumped headfirst into everything. It was good, she didn't have time in her life for indecisiveness, but also it could be a little much. Touichirou was the kind of man who told you he loved you while he made love to you in the middle of your backyard, but he was also the sort of man who dumped a pocketful of rings into your lap and declared that he was going to marry you. Touichirou was…he was a lot of things.
Places, too.
Like right at her front door. There. She could feel him…she was getting used to him. His aura used to send the hair on the back of her neck standing on end just from being in the same city as her. That had been a year and a half ago. She was getting used to him. He could have snuck up on her if he'd wanted to…but she trusted that he didn't. She trusted him more than she had ever trusted any other man in her life…
Of course considering her track record that wasn't saying much.
She sighed and smoothed down her hair. There he was. Alright, they were doing this. She smoothed out her hair one more time. She could see herself in the mirror, she looked fine, and it didn't even matter how she looked. He was going to be staying for a week. He was going to see her first thing in the morning and last thing before he went to sleep at night. Hell, he'd already seen her looking her worst. They were past this stage. They were…she spun her ring….
They had passed a lot of stages.
They had made it to the 'buying rings and cutting keys' stage. He had bought the rings and she had cut the keys. Key. Singular. Another spare, this one for him. He didn't need it, she didn't need it either, but it was symbolic or something. Or maybe she just didn't want to have to replace her front lock every time he tried to let himself it. It took a lot of precision to be able to undo a lock with telekinesis. She knew that he was up there in terms of raw power and he was more precise than most…but she had no idea how precise…
Maybe she would learn some things about him.
She was certainly learning things about herself. Every time she passed a mirror she touched her goddamned hair. It was fine. It was normal. She wasn't going to waste an afternoon at a salon or whatever making it special or whatever for him. He had already told her that he loved every single thing about her…not that she needed his approval for anything. She knew exactly who she was and who she wanted to be.
Right now she wanted to be forty, not fourteen or twenty four or however old she had been when she had last been this self-conscious.
"….no idea what you're talking about. A difference in graphical capability means nothing if the game has not fundamentally changed…." Touichirou. She turned the corner and…well she knew who he was talking to. She hadn't needed any kind of visual confirmation. But there it was. Touichirou and Hatori, there, in her genkan.
They both had bags.
"It's better for immersion. If I can't actually believe that I'm there then it's like there's this layer between me and what I'm doing and I can't get into it. What's the point of an RPG if I can't do the 'R' part?" asked Hatori as he kicked off his shoe. It smacked right into the front of his bag, at least she assumed that the giant Pokémon ball bag was his. Though that was one of the games that Touichirou would never admit to playing. Touichirou's bag was probably the black one, though, since he did pride himself on being a semi-practical man.
Semi.
There was nothing at all practical about this situation. She had one bedroom with one bed. That one bed would house two people, her and Touichirou. She had a couch but that couch was for sitting on, maybe napping, and occasionally have all sorts of adult fun. It was not for sleeping on. This was her home, not a bed and breakfast. She wasn't just going to host the whole of Claw because Touichirou couldn't travel alone or whatever.
Hatori have better been planning on taking that bag with him when he left.
"Your generation is spoiled. When I was young we were lucky to have color displays." Said Touichirou. Shiori rolled her eyes. This again. Those two could carry on for hours about games…well if they were planning on carrying on for hours then they could both carry on somewhere else. This week was about trying to see if they could live together in married life. She assumed that their married life wasn't going to include Hatori.
His actual children, of course, but not Hatori.
"Maybe your generation was just depraved." Said Hatori
"The word you're looking for is deprived, and maybe we were. Who knows?" said Shiori. He shrank back from her gaze and her aura.
"Shiori, hello. I let myself in. I didn't see the point in knocking." Said Touichirou. He didn't shrink back from her, if anything he welcome her. His aura met hers. His eyes met hers. If she had leaned in to kiss him then he would have welcomed her. Well she certainly wasn't going to be kissing him, not in front of the kid. The kid who really should have been old enough to stay on his own for a week. It was Golden Week, this was Osaka, and he was twenty one or twenty two. He shouldn't have been able to take three steps without finding something that could occupy him for the week.
"That's why I gave you the key, isn't it?" asked Shiori
"Yes, I suppose that is the point of having a key, so thank you for it." Said Touichirou. He was so earnest there. To her, of course, since she knew him. There were the barely perceptible movements of his face and aura, the ones that you needed to know him to see. Well she could see them. He was earnest, he was happy, and she wished that she could have felt the same way. She should have known that Touichirou would have tried to bring Hatori, he brought him everywhere. The son he'd always wanted. Well at least she knew that he was going to be a good father.
To their hypothetical son. Their hypothetical daughter, on the other hand, was out of luck.
"Yeah, that's the point of 'you' having a key. What's he doing here?" asked Shiori. She pointed at Hatori. He jumped back like she had shot lightning out of her fingertips or something, She would have killed for that power. Telekinesis was great and all but not showy enough….not that she need anything showy to freak Hatori out.
Maybe she had it backwards. Maybe he was the one who couldn't be without Touichirou.
"Hatori goes where I go. I usually bring him unless he has a prior engagement." Said Touichirou simply, like he was going over a shopping list…something else they would have to try out together. They were going to have to work out cooking and housekeeping and shopping…bedtimes and wakeup times…they'd have to negotiate over fridge space and drawer space…laundry, both washing and drying…they had enough to work out this week as it was without throwing co-parenting into the mix.
She had no idea if she even wanted to co-parent his actual children let alone his twenty something year old pseudo son.
"Hey Shiori…happy Golden Week." Said Hatori
"Happy Golden Week. Now go and celebrate on your own." said Shiori. It was best to be blunt with people. When you started saying things like 'maybe it would be best if you left' and 'I'm sure you want more privacy than my living room can provide' or 'don't you think that it would be better if you slept on something more comfortable than my living room couch' then the person you were talking too started to look for outs. They insisted that they were fine, that everything was fine, and that they were obviously too clueless to read between the lines. Well Shiori wasn't going to start that up with anyone. She didn't have that kind of time or patience.
Besides, if he was anything like Touichirou than blunt was the only thing he understood.
"Uh-" said Hatori
"He has no other friends and no romantic life. There's no way that he can possibly celebrate golden week on his own." said Touichirou
"Hey….I'm right here." Said Hatori
"I'm aware of your close proximity to me." Said Touichirou. Shiori nearly laughed. Nearly. Touichirou could be so blunt, just as blunt as her, but so….unknowing. Adorable. Charming in a way. There was something to charming about his cluelessness…but also it could be somewhat annoying. Like now. He must have had more sense than to think that it was at all appropriate to bring Hatori here….
Of course he did. This was Touichirou she was talking about.
"Touichirou, I love you and I know you love or care for him or whatever but he can't stay here. It's not happening." Said Shiori
"Why not? He's stayed here before." Said Touichirou
"Yes, for one night at most, not the whole week….and don't argue with me on this. It's my house. I'm not running a bed and breakfast here." Said Shiori
"What do you have against Hatori?" asked Touichirou. He glanced at Hatori there, more like glared at him. Hatori took a step back and nearly tumbled over his bag. She and Touichirou both caught him at once. Touichirou did most of the heavy lifting. He was so much stronger than her…but that didn't matter. They weren't married yet, this was still her house.
"I-I didn't do anything! I mean, ok, I decluttered your phone but it had a lot of weird viruses on it and-" said Hatori
"I have nothing against him, I would just prefer to have a little bit of privacy this week. We're supposed to be learning how to live together, Touichirou, and that's all I can do right now. I'm not ready to start coparenting or whatever." Said Shiori
"Hey, I'm twenty-two years old!" Said Hatori
"And your point is?" asked Shiori
"He isn't my son. There's not chance of that, I checked." Said Touichirou. He missed the truly wounded look that Hatori gave him. Well Shiori wasn't going to point it out to him. She had no desire to get in the middle of whatever it was between the two of them.
"I don't want a kid around this week, alright? And before you say anything he's eighteen years younger than me, he's young enough to be my son and he acts like it. If you can't be without him then the both of you can go back to Beijing or wherever." Said Shiori. Ultimatums had never sat well with her. She never gave in…but she wasn't going to take it back. She wasn't going to go back on this. She wasn't going to let him walk all over her. Just because he was the man and she was the woman it didn't mean that he just got to discard her wishes like that. Nope. She knew that he was old fashioned but if he didn't get past that then he could go and be old fashioned somewhere else.
She spun her ring…she could always get a new one if she had to.
She didn't want to, though. She didn't want to find a new ring or a new Touichirou. He was one of a kind….and not just because he was massively overpowered. He was the biggest dork she had ever met in her life. He was adorable in ways she had never known a man to be. He was thoughtful, in his own way. The way that tried to feed her when she was laid up with cramps. The way that watched her sleep to make sure that she didn't spontaneously die. The way that put ketchup on low mein even though all he did was make a tomato-ey, ketchup-y mess. The way…the way that everything about him just came together into the idiot that she might one day call her husband.
She wanted…she wanted Touichirou….but not if he was going to treat her like this.
"Understood. Hatori, go away." said Touichirou. Well that had been….quick. He chewed on it for a moment, she knew the face he made when he was deep in thought, and then he came to the conclusion that maybe this had been a bad idea. Touichirou had listened to her. He had actually done as she asked….well then. That was…good. This was good.
"But wait! Where do you…where do I-" asked Hatori. Touichirou shook his head.
"I own seven houses and two apartment buildings. One of those would suffice. Now leave." Said Touichirou. He lifted a finger, just one finger, and the front door slammed opened. That wasn't going to be good for anyone, especially the already stressed out cat, but she was going to pick her battles here.
"Hey!" said Hatori as he slid out on his heels. His bags followed and the door slammed shut…she was going to have to talk to him about all the door slamming….later. Much later.
"He'll be fine….I think." Said Touichirou. He threw a concerned glanced over his shoulder. She walked over and took his hand in hers.
"He's a big kid now, he can take care of himself…and thank you, for listening to me. There might be hope for this thing yet." Said Shiori. She stood up tall on her toes and kissed him. He kissed her back without even a second's delay. He knew her. He knew her and she knew him…and he listened to her. That meant more to her, in that moment, than the ring on her finger. Than the contents of her jewelry box. Than anything else in the world. Those words, this kiss, all of it was immaterial. All of it sparked joy. All of it was hers.
It was going to end up being more than a drawer, all of this, but she didn't mind. She was ready to at least try.