Katou (katoustheshit) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2016-03-14 13:08:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, kanan jarrus, yue katou |
Who: Katou and Kanan
What: Katou shows Kanan his spare room.
When: Early March.
Where: Katou's house
Warnings/Ratings: Low/None
Status: Complete
Sometimes, it was bizarre to think about the fact that, less than a year ago, Katou was living in an abandoned warehouse, selling drugs, and just generally going nowhere with his life. Now, he was going to graduate high school in a few short months - something he’d never really thought he would do, despite the fact that he had never gone through with dropping out - and was looking for roommates for the house he currently occupied by himself. With a legitimate job, no less. A legitimate job working for Kanan, who was coming to check out the spare room.
Some people might have thought living with their boss was weird, but Katou genuinely liked Kanan. The man had bailed him out from the shoplifting incident despite not even knowing him, and had offered him a job, and apparently dreamed about Star Wars which was just plain badass. Besides, in his dreams, Katou had spent some time living with Uriel, the man who Katou considered both a friend and his master, so it wasn’t such a strange thought. Assuming Kanan decided the place was to his liking.
Katou, luckily, didn’t have enough belongings to make the place a mess. There was furniture, of course. Mostly stuff that Wendy had left behind. Katou’d also brought his guitars out to the living room - a beat up electric guitar and an old, worn acoustic. He had a few CDs in smashed cases lying out, but they were stacked neatly. The walls were decorated with band posters and some sketches that Jack had left behind, all lit naturally through the large picture window. There was a sectioned off reading nook, the seat long enough for someone to lie down on, which had functioned for a time as Katou’s bedroom but was now used only when Katou chose to play his guitar there, and there was a fireplace, mostly clean.
The house itself had two bedrooms - a large master bedroom which Katou had claimed for himself, and a slightly smaller, but still roomy second bedroom. The bathroom laid between them, as well as a storage closet. The kitchen was well organized, and the house had the faint smell of fish, rice, and natto - Katou’s breakfast. Surprisingly, it didn’t smell at all like cigarettes. Wendy maybe wasn’t around anymore, but he was half convinced if she caught wind of him smoking in her house, she’d come home and beat him with a rolling pin.
He’d spent some of the morning tossing his dirty clothes from the living room into the hamper, but he was practicing his guitar when the doorbell rang. He placed it in his guitar stand, and went to open the door.
There was nothing weird about living with your boss as far as Kanan was concerned. He’d lived with Janus for a time while the man taught him everything he knew about smuggling and dealing with the darling personalities that made up America’s criminal underworld. Janus hadn’t quite been a father figure, but he’d been about as close to one as Kanan had in his formidable years. He’d taken good care of Kanan in those years. He’d fed him, kept him cleaned and clothed with a roof over his head to keep the cold and rain off. He’d even given Kanan an education, as unorthodox as it was. Kanan respected the man, who was retired now and living fat and happy in some 60-years-plus community in Florida. It couldn’t really be a surprise that Kanan, now only a few years older than Janus had been when he’d found him, was paying it forward, in a sense. The big difference this time around was that Kanan had no intention of making Katou his protege.
At first his reasoning for this had been simply because he wasn’t going to be sticking around Orange County long enough to actually be able to teach the kid anything. He’d come to do a job for an old colleague to whom he owed favors and once it was over he had planned to be back on the road doing what he did best. He hadn’t expected to run into Lina Inverse or pull a punk’s ass out of the fire. Both of those things had just kind of ….happened.
The job for Nightingale had ended well over a month ago and Kanan was still here. He wasn’t really sure why. Maybe to keep tabs on the new internal structure of Nightingale’s former organization, make sure nothing went tits up the moment his back was turned. Everything there seemed to be running as smoothly as one could imagine. Maybe it was some kind of morbid curiosity about the Dreams once he started having them. Of being a motherfucking Jedi of all the crazyass things.
Logically, he shouldn’t have stuck around at all. This place was crazy with a capital C. First with the fog of nightmares and then a week and a half of blood rain, tidal waves, killer monkeys, toxic fog and fucking birds that sounded suspiciously like people Kanan knew once upon a time. But when he thought about packing up his stuff and hitting the road it just...didn’t seem right. He felt as though he was running out on the poor kid he’d rescued from a shoplifting offense. Hanging around and waiting for Lina to have her baby seemed like a reasonable enough excuse to hang out for a few more months. Hell, he sort of wanted to be around for the event, give Baby Girl Wisdom a proper welcome. Plus there was Dutch…
All of this meant that Kanan couldn’t afford to continue living in the hotel. Oh, sure, he had a few jobs lined up smuggling some choice weed up from Tijuana, but he couldn’t afford to hang out at the extended stay. He needed something a little...less temporary.
Honestly he was surprised to learn that Katou lived in a house and not in an apartment or something like that. God damn and the kid thought Kanan was loaded? He wasn’t living in a house all on his own. It wasn’t a large house, but it was bigger than anything Kanan had lived in recently. A little ironic, when you thought about it. But, eh, whatever. Hopefully it would work out in both of their favors.
Kanan knocked on the door.
When Katou answered the door, he stepped and waved Kanan in as an invite. “Welcome to Chateau Katou,” Katou said, grinning. The name had been the name of the old abandoned warehouse where he used to live, but he’d only been back to the old building once since he’d relapsed, going on a four day bender. He’d partied too often in the old building to go back without the cravings nearly taking over, and so he thought it best to avoid. But the name Chateau Katou was really just too perfect of a name, with its rhyme, to just abandon it with the warehouse. “How’s it hangin’?”
Chateau Katou. The name made Kanan snicker a little bit, but it did seem to fit the house.
Kanan hadn’t lived in a house for years. He had an apartment, what he considered his “base of operations”, on the east coast. He didn’t spend a whole lot of time there considering he was often on the road, but he kept the rent paid far enough in advance that his landlord didn’t much care of his comings and goings. It was a place he could return to when he needed to, but it wasn’t home. Kanan hadn’t had a home since he’d been a young kid.
There was something inherently homey about Chateau Katou, though. Kanan couldn’t quite put his finger on what it was, but he felt oddly comfortable stepping inside. His eyes passed over the posters and drawings on the wall, moving on to the CD cases in neat little stacks. The kid really liked his music and seemed to have a discerning palate if the CD cases, posters and the patches on his jacket were any indication. He wondered how much he’d like Kanan listening to classic rock from the 60’s and 70’s - The Doors, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Creedence Clearwater Revival…not exactly punk or alternative at least not by today’s standards.
Kanan’s eyes settled on the two guitars in their stands. He looked over his shoulder at Katou, a brow raised with interest. “Do you play?” he asked.
Katou didn’t go out of his way to listen to much classic rock, but he could appreciate it when he heard it played. He had more than a couple of old 70s punk CDs, and hearing the classic rock influence in some early punk music was enjoyable.
Katou closed the door behind Kanan before he glanced over at his guitars, and gave an almost sheepish smile. “A little,” Katou said. “I useta have a band a while ago. “S’how I made some spare spending cash before you came around. What about you? Play anything?” It would be kind of nice, having someone who he could jam with now and then living with him.
“Nah,” Kanan shook his head. “I always wanted to do but my guardian-” guardian was a good enough way to explain his relationship with Janus. It sounded better than boss and didn’t raise quite so many questions. “-didn’t think it was something I needed to learn. It always about learning the business, which, you know I’m glad he did so I could take over for him once he retired, but it didn’t leave a lot of time for hobbies.” He looked a little longingly at the guitars before turning his attention back to Katou. “Why don’t you show me around and tell me a little bit about what you expect out of a roommate. You know, rent, utilities, ground rules, shit like that.”
Katou didn’t miss the look of longing. “Well, I’ve got more than one. You can try practicing on it if you wanna,” he said, as he started to walk out of the living room. “Well, kitchen’s over here,” he said, gesturing to the room next to the living room. “Rent’s not too bad. My bud Wendy owns the place, and she gives me a good price. No smoking or drugs inside, but other than that I don’t keep no rules.” And those rules he did have were put into place by Wendy. He had enough respect for her that he still followed them, even though she’d been gone for months.
“I’d have to learn something in order to practice,” Kanan laughed lightly. “But if you don’t mind listening to my attempts at learning, I think I might take advantage of that offer.”
He followed Katou from the living room into the kitchen to get a peek. “No drugs and no smoking.” The drugs he could avoid, Kanan had never tried any illegal substance. That was one of the first lessons he’d been taught. Never partake in anything you smuggle. Ever. It was bad business sense and a good way to wind up in a shit ton of trouble. The no smoking policy was surprising, but understandable considering the house didn’t exactly belong to Katou.
“Yeah,” Katou said. “I can probably help you out with the whole learning thing.” He didn’t think he’d be a very good teacher. He didn’t have the patience for it, for one. But having someone to jam with again would be pretty nice.
“This is my room,” he said, gesturing to the closed bedroom door. “Bathroom. That’s the other room. Yours, if you decide to move in,” he said, waving toward the room. It was still furnished, though not with much. Just a bed and a dresser.
Kanan wasn’t looking for much. All he had was a suitcase and a duffle bag A bed and a dresser would suit him just fine. He’d miss the stocked mini fridge, the coffee maker within arms reach, plus the hotel’s pool which was open nearly all hours, and of course room service, but he really wasn’t willing to continue paying the hotel’s prices for those commodities, especially since his four week stay had turned into a four month stay. Besides, he could help the kid out with rent and groceries. Although, given the smell of rice in the air, the kid seemed to be doing well feeding himself. It may just be the other way around in that regard.
“Looks good to me,” Kanan said, turning in the doorway to look back at Katou. “What are your thoughts on…overnight guests?” Kanan wasn’t picky. He didn’t have to bring a date home. If Katou rather not have anyone else in the house that was fine with him.
It was his first time really trying to rent a room, and he was genuinely kind of surprised it had been that easy. He wouldn’t complain though. Katou didn’t like to do actual work, and it being as easy as it had been suited him just fine.
“Do whatever you want, man,” he said. Just like, try to keep the door closed and the volume down if you know what I mean. Or at least blast some good tunes. That’s not the kinda thing I really wanna listen to.” He wasn’t squimish about that kind of thing, and if shit happened then he wasn’t going to be too fussed about it. He’d walked in on enough people having sex that he didn’t even bat an eye at it anymore. But seriously. Katou had much better things to do than listen to Kanan getting it on.
Kanan laughed. “Yeah, sure,” he said. “Door closed and good tunes. No problem.” And keep the noise down to a tolerable level since their rooms were fairly close, company or otherwise.. Kanan could handle all of that. The arrangement was pretty ideal all things considered and very convinent.
“So,” he stuffed his hands in his pockets and leaned against the door frame. “I’m game with this set up if you are. Whatcha think, kiddo?”
Katou grinned. He really hadn't expected that to be so easy, though he was glad it was. And he was glad too that it was Kanan. He liked the older man. He'd already proved he had Katou's back, even before they'd actually met. “I think I've got myself a roommate.”