Teaser #09: 5B

Parental: A Coalesce Short (4/4)

Peters’ Apartment

Seattle, WA

United States of America

June 2017

Aether and Tadashi sit as far away from the other as they possibly can.

It’s a bit hard to keep away from the other inside Peters’ apartment; while his is relatively larger than Mack’s cozier pad a couple of blocks down, there isn’t as much space within his combined dining and living rooms unless either of them would move to his bedroom. While Aether and Tadashi were good friends with Peters, neither of them felt exactly comfortable doing that. That left them in each other’s company, Aether making herself as small as possible on one of the armchairs while Tadashi kept his eyes averted at the dining table.

Neither of them knew beforehand that the other was coming. Peters had told Tadashi that Aether would have a date with Mathieu, while Mack assured Aether that Tadashi would be visiting his younger sisters. Because of that, they ended up where they were at the present: uncomfortably waiting for Peters and Mack in the former’s apartment.

It had been at least a week, less than two weeks since their argument. Aether didn’t want to think of it, and neither did Tadashi. For the days leading up to that one, Aether merely kept herself busy at the office with reports while Tadashi busied himself in other ways. There had been an instance where both ran into each other in the middle of the day, and Aether was about to say something before Tadashi merely brushed past her and muttered an ‘excuse me’.

(Needless to say, Mack had to comfort Aether in her office while Peters mustered all the energy he had to not yell at his two arguing teammates to stop being immature. But he didn’t—not when Aether was in tears and when Tadashi looked just as troubled.)

Teaser #08: 5B

Teaser #07: 5B

Teaser #06: 5B

Teaser #05: 5B

Teaser #04: 5B

[Coa] Tadashi: Chapter 002

Tadashi's Apartment 

Seattle, WA

United States of America

August 2009

It’s seven in the evening when Tadashi Sato manages to pull himself out of bed for the nth time that day. He wasn’t so sure on the count, but he was at least certain that the number was less than ten, maybe even five.

This depended on the weight that sat on his shoulders. It never seemed to leave, not quite; it had been there for a week, had been there since the dreams started, had been there ever since he shut off the lights and sentenced himself to what felt like solitary confinement underneath the bedsheets.

Knocking. Insistent knocking, knocking that went on and on and on.

Each one makes him flinch. Each one catches him off-guard.

Knocking, more knocking; with each knock does Tadashi swear that it’s resounding in his ears, resounding in his head. There’s the desire to mumble “stop”, but the word catches in his throat. The knocking sounds ominous, sounds like a familiar warning that makes him stop in his tracks and look at the doorknob with doubt, fear, hesitation.

There’s a familiar adrenaline rushing through his veins.

The knocking sounds like gunshots.

Teaser #03: 5B

Teaser #02: 5B

Teaser #01: 5B

071385: Birthday

"what is your legacy, jin-ho?"

Parental: A Coalesce Short (3/4)

Tadashi’s Apartment

Seattle, WA

United States of America

June 2017

While Samuel Peters was not normally the most patient kind of man, he knew when to shut up and listen when a co-worker was in distress. At least, that’s what he was doing at the moment—only nodding and humming in sympathy while Tadashi vented and vented. It had been happening for the past half-hour or so; since Peters had gotten there at Tadashi’s place with a box of takeout and the offer to do something productive like binge watch something or work on a report due the week after.

Apparently, ‘productive’ to Tadashi meant venting and letting his emotions fly free. This was something that Peters was not used to doing. Peters was used to being on the side of the venting; talking about his clashes with Aether, muttering angrily about how things had been back in Bronx. Typically, Tadashi would be on the other side, listening and offering words of wisdom that the American would find made much more sense than the irritation steaming in his head.

This time, things were going the other way around.

Peters wasn’t quite sure how to handle it.

Tadashi paced around his apartment, venting and shaking his head and speaking rapidly, quickly. In the midst of it, Peters could only cling on to a few words and phrases. Before he could speak up, Tadashi stopped in the middle of the living room and looked at Peters. “I’m not exaggerating, right?”

“Er—”

“I’m not exaggerating about Aether, right?”

“Uh.”

Subtitles: A Coalesce Graphic (2/?)