a bit of a shorter chapter this week, but I swear they get longer as the fic goes on! I'm just enjoying the build up for now, you know? anyway, please enjoy, and leave me a review if you like it!
At 11:55 AM, Hakuryuu stands outside the antiques shop. He can't see anyone inside, but Judal told him to be here at noon, and he prefers to be a few minutes early. It never hurts to be prepared.
The door is locked, but that's to be expected. Judal must be somewhere out of sight, preparing for opening. Hakuryuu doesn't see any hours posted though, so if the store doesn't open up at noon, he's at a loss for what to do. Is this some sort of strange test? Should he just sit outside and wait?
He doesn't have any other plans for the day, so he may as well wait for awhile, at least. He pulls out his phone to find a book to read, and mentally berates himself for not getting some sort of contact information from Judal. But how was he supposed to know that no one else would be here?
It's Judal's responsibility to run this shop, not his, but he doesn't want to risk upsetting Judal's fickle attitude. He waits around for awhile until someone from another nearby shop steps outside.
"Are you waiting for the antique place to open?"
"Ah, sort of. The owner told me to meet him here," Hakuryuu answers.
"Oh, good luck. He's very inconsistent with when he actually shows up to open."
Fantastic. "You don't happen to have his number, do you?"
They shake their head. "He's a nice kid but very cagey and private. Sorry!"
"It's alright." Maybe he'll go for coffee somewhere and then come back. He pulls his phone back out to look up local coffee shops, when the neighbor interrupts his thoughts.
"He does live above the shop, though. You could probably knock on the door."
Hakuryuu shoves his phone back in pocket and gives the neighbor a grateful smile. "Thank you, I'll try that."
He makes his way through a narrow alley between buildings until he comes around to the back. The whole experience with the curse still feels surreal, and in the bright afternoon sun, it's hard to believe it was anything but a nightmare. But it was real, so here he is, trying to track down Judal.
Hakuryuu finds a door in the back and tries it. This one opens to a dimly lit stairwell, and Hakuryuu cautiously enters. Belatedly, he thinks about how big the inside seemed compared to the size of the building. Maybe he can get Judal to explain how that works later.
With more nervousness than he's comfortable with, Hakuryuu knocks on the door at the top of the stairs.
No answer.
He tries again, louder this time, and Hakuryuu thinks he can hear some movement inside. He waits a bit before knocking again, and now he's sure he hears something. There are some shuffling footsteps, and the door opens slowly.
Judal stares back at him blearily, and he's almost a different man. Gone is the perfectly made up, somewhat mysterious shopkeeper. Instead, he's got the faded remnants of yesterday's makeup smeared across his face and a ratty t-shirt on, and Hakuryuu can just barely see his long braid coming loose behind him.
"Who- Ugh, Hakuryuu?" he asks, obviously confused.
"You told me to be here at noon," Hakuryuu responds, now thoroughly annoyed. "I've been waiting."
Judal eyes him up. "Sorry. Late night last night, so I needed to rest up. Uh. Come in, I guess," he says awkwardly, opening the door wider. Hakuryuu comes in and grimaces. Judal's home is a mess, old takeout containers and clothes piled everywhere. He'd judge it more harshly, but Judal did just see his apartment in a disgusting state last night, so he'll withhold his negative opinions for now.
He ignores Hakuryuu and shuffles towards the kitchen, grabbing a peach before leaning against a counter. Awkward silence stretches between them, the only interruptions the noises from Judal eating his peach. Hakuryuu kind of wishes he'd just stayed outside.
"Anyway," Judal begins, tossing his peach pit in the trash and grabbing another from a bowl. "I'm gonna get dressed a little nicer than this, and you can, uh...help me out in the shop for a bit, I guess."
"Alright."
Judal wanders off, leaving Hakuryuu free to look around the living room. Besides the mess, it's full of trinkets, most of them old enough that they're probably things he didn't want to sell in the shop. There are colorful fabrics hanging from the walls, similar to the aesthetic of the shop, and even more jewelry than Hakuryuu had seen for sale downstairs. It's oddly empty of any sort of personal pictures, even on the wide bookshelf.
He's not quite sure what he's supposed to be doing while he's waiting, and Judal is taking his time getting ready. But eventually Judal saunters back out, once again looking the part of a mysterious, maybe magical, dealer of ancient items. He's jangling with golden jewelry, leading Hakuryuu to wonder just how much jewelry this man owns.
"You stuck around! Good, good," Judal says. "I half expected you to leave."
"I considered it," Hakuryuu tells him, and Judal laughs.
"Let's go open up shop, then, before you change your mind."
x･x･x
Judal sets a box on the counter. "So you look like a guy who's good at organizing," he begins, gesturing at the box. "And I've got these receipts from before I switched to fancy technology."
Hakuryuu eyes the box with concern. "Is that entirely full of receipts?"
"Just about, yeah. I used to throw them all in here at the end of the day."
"I see," he says tersely. How does this man actually run a successful business?
"I think I need them for taxes or whatever, so I'm gonna need you to organize them."
He nods. All things considered, this isn't too bad. It will be time consuming and frustrating, but not impossible. "Do you have an office, or perhaps a bigger counter somewhere? I could use some more space."
"Uh, yeah. Follow me," he says, leading Hakuryuu through a nondescript door. There's a rather plain looking desk inside with some filing cabinets next to it and what appears to be a closet in the back. "There should be, like, office supplies and shit in the closet, but lemme know if you need anything else." Judal waves and wanders back out, leaving the office door open.
It's slow going, sorting through the unnecessary mess that Judal has made. Somehow, it's even worse than he imagined, and Hakuryuu is just grateful that the receipts are dated. He starts by breaking them down by year, carefully slipping each year into its own labeled folder. There's another folder for ones so faded that he can't make out the date, set aside for Judal to deal with later. Maybe he can make some sense of them.
He's just about through the box when Judal rejoins him, a stained takeout menu in hand. "Hey, I was gonna get delivery. You want anything?"
"Oh. Um, sure," he awkwardly agrees, surprised by the offer.
"My treat, by the way, for dealing with all of...this," Judal says, gesturing at the receipts. "Especially cause I've got more boxes of those back at the counter."
Hakuryuu isn't surprised. There are wildly varying numbers of receipts for each year, different enough that some are obviously missing, and they have to be somewhere. "I see," he finally says.
"Yeah, so pick something out. You don't have to stay here all night or anything, but I do stay open pretty late to, you know, make up for how late I usually open up."
"Thanks. Can I see the menu?"
Judal sets it down on the desk, nearly upsetting some of Hakuryuu's delicate receipt piles, and turns to leave. "Come get me when you're ready!"
He takes a deep breath to calm himself and to prevent himself from yelling at Judal. It's Judal's mess and if he makes it worse, he just won't be able to justify getting mad at Hakuryuu for it taking longer. He'll just pick something for dinner and move on with his project.
The menu looks well loved, so Hakuryuu can only hope that means the food is good. Judal doesn't look like someone with cultured food tastes, but maybe looks will be deceiving for once.
He settles on beef with broccoli, something simple that should be hard to mess up, and vegetable hot and sour soup. He writes it down on piece of paper for clarity, just to be safe.
Judal is sitting cross-legged at the counter, once again impossibly balanced, and glances up when Hakuryuu gets close. "Ready?"
"Mmhm. I wrote it down for you."
"Oh, you are organized. Nice!" Judal takes the paper and menu back and pulls out his phone to call it in. "No, yeah, I want my usual, but some other stuff too. Let's see, uhhhh vegetable hot and sour soup, and- no, I still don't like spicy shit, don't you dare adjust the heat of mine! I need some beef with broccoli too- yeah, I know those both have vegetables in them, but they're for someone else. Don't put any in my lo mein! Yeah, sure, I want a second fortune cookie. Thanks."
Judal shoots him a grin. "They know me there. I'll bring it to you when it gets here."
"Alright. Please don't just set it down when you do."
"Hm? Why not?"
"I'd rather you not disturb the system I have going," Hakuryuu explains, and Judal laughs.
"Okay, okay, I'm sorry for ruining your life! I'll be careful next time," he says, still grinning.
x･x･x
"Wanna come eat out here?" Judal asks, poking his head into the office. "I made room."
Hakuryuu nearly drops the receipts he's holding. How is Judal so quiet while wearing so much jewelry? "It might be easier," he concedes, glancing at the desk.
"Come on then," Judal says, popping back out. "Before it gets cold."
Judal has another stool set up at the counter and he's shoved all the trinkets to a corner of the shelf behind him. It's enough space, if they're close, but Judal doesn't seem to be concerned.
"They sent me an extra egg roll, too, so you're welcome to it if you want. These are actually really good cause they're not weird and textured, just so you know."
Hakuryuu just nods and grabs a plastic spoon. His soup is solidly good, and food appears to be the only thing that can shut Judal up. They eat in a surprisingly comfortable silence, surrounded by a strange shop of even stranger trinkets, and Hakuryuu has to admit that it's not all bad.