Forums » General Roleplay » The Distance to Your Heart (private)

The vivid blue of New Jersey's sky poked through the tall buildings, oak trees adding color against the browns, greys, and red of the buildings. Shinya's shoes beat out a rhythm against he side walk as he moved, eyes half slid closed so he could see the ghostly red line in front of him better. Extended from his right pinky, the glowing red thread swooped off into the distance where it became nothing more than the fabric of their world. Although he couldn't see the end now, he could feel it. The string was taut, the tug insistent even to a man like him who had honed his entire body and mind to receive the pull of fate's red string. After five long years, finally, finally, Shinya knew where the string would lead.

Turning his attention away from the string, he watched the color fade so that it appeared as only the faint glimpse of something he could see from the corner of his eye. He could still feel the pull though, so when he turned the corner and the sky and sidewalk in front of him turned into a brown house, he knew his journey ended.

Shinya felt his heart still in his chest so that his legs almost stopped, going just as still. And yet they quickened their pace, ignoring all the nerves that settled inside his stomach. He knew without a doubt that his soulmate lay ahead of him, beyond the second door from the right. He even knew the name of the person that lay behind it. For the longest time, he'd chased blindly, but this wasn't blind anymore. This was the end of his journey where ten thousand puzzle pieces fitted together. His back steeled, Shinya climbed he three stairs to the door and knocked, knowing full well that the person he looked for lay on the other side.

The days had begun to meld into a blur as Antoni spent hour after hour staring at the blank, incriminating document in front of him. Usually, he struggled far more with the editing, days spent going back and forth with his editor, staring at notes and just wanting to be doing anything else. But this last novel, the one that would complete this god awful contract and maybe all him to do something else with his life, had been a struggle from word one.

He knew what the problem was, but that didn't free him from the task of actually having to write the novel. He just didn't believe in it. He didn't want to write the impossible love story his publishers had ordered. What was interesting about that? Or what true escape did it offer? It only reminded him of the string still dangling unremarkably at his side. It was just there; a ridiculous reminder of what could have been. Sometimes, Antoni just wanted to yank the damned thing off, not that he could.

But he had to write this novel, so here he was on day three of a self-imposed writing binge. Determined to get something down on paper, something useful down, before his deadline. If for nothing else to avoid a lecture from his agent. And, well, he had something. The setup for the novels was always easy. Two pathetic fools longing for their threads to tie. He could write that in his sleep, and honestly probably had. But what came after, that magical meeting, the love story that followed, it just became impossible, unbelievable, with each additional novel he penned.

He was going to get it written though; he had determination enough for that, but it was going to take days spent just like this. Where his hair was scraggly and unkempt, grease sticking the strands together. His shirt a forgotten entity on the floor at least a day ago, and sweatpants slung low on his hips. His scruff grown out and untrimmed, and his eyes sunken and exhausted from too many hours staring at a over-bright screen. And yet even with the self-imposed exile from society, which really wasn't the worst punishment, the screen still mocked him.

He groaned frustrated, resisting the urge to faceplate into his keyboard, not wanting to have to erase the resulting keysmash. He rubbed a hand over his face, groaning again, just about to set his hands upon the keyboard and write something, even if he deleted it in an hour; it would be something. However, before his fingers could fully settle over the keys, there was a knock on his door.

He pushed back from his desk, muttering a quite, "Who the hell?" to himself. It wasn't like anyone ever visited him, except maybe his agent or sister, if he didn't text them back for a few days. But he'd texted them both earlier, so it couldn't be either of them. So it was with a slight glower he opened the door and glared at the person on other side, not really even taking them in, demanding, "Can I help you?"

In time with the thunderous beat of his heart, the door opened. The world narrowed, eyes locking together. Shinya stared right at the other man--Antoni Augustyn, he knew from his research--and for a second that was all he could do. Eyes darted wildly over the other man to take in every detail, inherently afraid that he'd loose them. He never lost images that he memorized and even if this image was different from the one published in the back of his books, Shinya couldn't look away. Glancing at his string from the corner of his eyes, he saw it glowing bright red. This is it.

"Antoni, ah..." Shinya gasped out like an idiot before recovering. That's right, this was it, the final end to his journey. He carried no doubts in his heart. He carried no fear of this stranger in no shirt with wild hair and glaring eyes that didn't match any of his ideals. Shinya didn't see that at all. Beaming with utter joy and passion, he thrust out his hand to shake, waiting for Antoni to take it before he continued, all the hesitation gone from his voice.

"My name is Shinya. And I'm your soulmate."

Antoni wasn't sure what he expected when he flung his door open. Probably some salesperson with a miracle mop that would solve all his life's problems! He certainly wasn't expecting some fan claiming to be his soulmate. It wasn't like the first time it had happened, but usually these moments were reserved to book signings. Not random strangers showing up outside his home.

"Yeah, right," he scoffed, not taken the hand proffered to him. This was just one more desperate person. Desperate to capture the magic that apparently lived on his pages. Expecting some fairy tale like the ones he created. He rolled his eyes slightly, "Like, I haven't seen your type before. I'm a little concerned how you got my address, but whatever. I'm not your soulmate. You can go home now."

He didn't even bother giving the kid another glance, just turning to head back into his home. What a waste of his time. And he'd probably have to call his agent later and let him know that apparently the fans were showing up his house now. Which would mean some kind of additional security. Which would probably just complete tank his already abysmal productivity. He was already looking forward to it...

Something, Shinya wasn't even sure what, rushed through him at Antoni's words. Anger? Fear? Before the other man could retreat, he slammed his hand into the door, stopping it as words came flying out of his mouth. "How can that be?! I've followed the pull for five years. Five long years, so I know if you're my soulmate or not!" he gasped, the words ragged and so unlike him. His perfect ending? Once again, the world narrowed to this man, but instead of brightening, everything fractured at the edges. Oh god, he wanted to pass out. He never even dreamed that something like rejection might happen. "This...are you going to deny soulmates?" His voice dropped. "...I crossed three continents for you."

"Like I haven't heard that before," Antoni said, rolling his eyes, "You think I haven't had a dozen fans throw themselves at me proclaiming the exact same kind of absurd things?" He asked, having at least turned back to face the other man, taking in his appearance as he did so. Well, the other at least looked like his story was true. Which was saying something. The heavy pack and the slightly worn condition of his clothes seeming authentic. But then, this guy had somehow found out his address, so maybe he was a little more dedicated than other pursuers.

"Hate to break it to you kid. But life isn't like my novels. So stop dreaming of something absurd and go home." He pushed against the hand on his door, attempting to close it. He was already so done with this situation, not having any interest in it from the get go.

This...none of this ever crossed Shinya's mind. How could someone not want to meet their soulmate, not even believe in their words? All at once he was flashing back to seventeen, his father sternly lecturing, heels making worn tracks on the floor after too many years. Or his classmates laughing that he should believe in children's stories. He should think of family. Instead, he was a coward, stupid.

Shinya's eyes snapped back into focus, every emotion displayed clearly in his dark gaze. "I know that it's not a novel." He nearly choked on his words again, but he managed to reel in the fear, even knowing he fought a losing battle. Already, his arm trembled against the door that inched further closed by the second. Antoni was strong, but Shinya knew the feel of hard work too. He didn't just take a plane and show up on some guy's doorstep. "I won't go home. Even if you close this door."

How could he? He didn't have any money. His feet ached, and his heart. If he stopped to think about it, he knew that would ache even worse. He supposed he could save up the money though and just go. Crawl back to Japan and just give up? In his heart, he knew he couldn't do it though.

"Yeah, sure you can do that kid, and I'll just call the cops," Antoni said, and prompt shut the door the rest of the way, entirely done with the conversation. He had no clue who this kid was or what he was thinking, but it was just weird--even for a super fan. He'd give them fifteen minutes and if the other wasn't gone by then, he'd definitely call somebody. It just might not be the cops. Maybe, he'd let his agent have a go at them. It'd certainly be interesting, let someone else her ire over his lack of productivity for once.

Though even then, he'd probably still get some sort of lecture from her. This whole situation would still somehow be his fault. He sighed, rubbing a hand across his face, not sure what to do with the fifteen minutes, thought absolutely certain he wouldn't be writing. He also didn't really want to walk to far away from the door, worried the other may try to force his way in. So instead he stepped farther into his house, and turned to face the door. Not noticing the entire time the slight, insistent tugging on his pinkie, having long ago tuned out the nuisances of the string dangling around his finger.

Shinya knew he lost the battle a second before the door slipped from his grip. It slammed closed, leaving him alone on the stoop of his soulmate. Numbly, his eyes rolled over to look at his pinky, which still showed the red string as always when he focused on it. However, the beautiful red knot never appeared, signaling to the entire world that they bonded. Oh right, because they never touched hands. His eyes blinked, the world still dull around him. "Go home?" Shinya echoed the words again. He really didn't know what to do. The door in front of him definitely wasn't going to move though and Shinya didn't have the energy to fight it. Not knowing what else to do, he turned away and walked aimlessly down the street back the way he'd come. He didn't think he could go home, but he couldn't stay here either. Maybe later, after this reality seeped into his brain, he could come up with a knew plan. Right now though, he just kept walking.

Once Antoni was sure the other male had left, he moved away from the door and just stood there for several seconds, processing what happened. It was crazy. Absolutely crazy. He shook his head, and fired a quick text off to his publisher and agent about what had happened, knowing that as much as he'd rather just ignore the bizarre occurrence. He couldn't. He'd do the responsible thing and increase security on his home or something. He didn't want to move, but if it happened again. He knew he'd have to.

Then, with his concentration completely shot, he decided to shower and maybe go grocery shopping. He'd run low on easy to cook mills with the self-imposed writing exile. So it'd probably serve him well. And while he hadn't exactly been writing before the random showed up. He was still a bit bitter that whatever productivity he may had eventually achieved for the day was taken away from him before it could even start. So he may as well replace it with another sort of productivity so the day wasn't a complete loss.

Having only arrived in the city the night before, Shinya didn't know the area well. He'd been so determined to meet his soulmate that he thought nothing of sleep arrangements, temporary work, or even emailing his mother. She would like to know he found his soulmate, but now...his eyes trailed down to rest on his pinky finger again. The string curved backwards in the way he'd come, tugging slightly when he focused on it. Wrenching his gaze away, he ignored the feeling and charged forward.

He could say one good thing about the area that Antoni lived in. Parks littered the area and if he judged by the detritus and the faint tell-tale signs he'd grown familiar with, many catered to the homeless after dark. He didn't feel like getting chased out immediately. Tomorrow he could find a shelter or some cheap hostel to stay out. Tomorrow he could find a library so he could email his mother. Tomorrow he could work on solutions.

Finding a bench partially shaded by some birch trees, Shinya finally let his tired feet give out. Dropping his pack to the side, he stretched out and stared up past the foliage into the sunlight. He really messed up this time didn't he? Tomorrow though. He would deal with this tomorrow because even if the late afternoon sun still sat in the sky overhead, he was suddenly, every soul-achingly tired.

Maybe, Antoni wasn't as worried about the random who showed up at his door as he should of been. At least according to the reactions of others, but honestly he couldn't really see the point. Like, worse case, he'd get a restraining order against the dude and move on with his life. He wasn't moving, so really there wasn't a point to freak out.

With that, Antoni was determined to go about his normal routine. Grocery shopping, buying fancier food for his iguana, Barclay, than he did for himself and resisting the urge to pound his head into his desk with every word that refused to come easily. And when those tasks became too much, he went to exercise, determined to lose himself in the ease of the stretch and burn of muscles rather than rack his brain for some grand love story.

But here's the thing, despite all that, the encounter with the stranger was bothering him, but not in the way it should. Instead he found his eyes drifting more frequently to the string around his fingers that it had in years, getting lost in the sway of it from side to side. Memories of a hopeful childhood surfacing. Of days and weeks spent chasing the other end, even though it always proved futile. The quest not dimming in the slightest. It's why he wrote that first novel. It was like a dream of what he wanted to happened. Of that easy moment when two hands brushed and everything clicked together.

And Antoni hated it. Hated feeling those tendrils of hope curling through his chest. Black and insidious. Because they only lead to disappointment. He hated that some random had made him for maybe just a second wonder again.

Shinya woke with the sun. It was hard not to considering the rays pierced into his eyes, warming the patches of his skin that got cold in the night. Quickly folding away his blanket and clipping it over his pack, he decided not to stick around lest someone decided to talk to him. Whether the homeless man who made his camp on the other side of a small cement memorial and gave him looks a few times, or an early morning jogger with two dogs in tow, he didn't want to explain himself. Yesterday still felt raw and painful to him, so if he could help it, he didn't want to explain that his soulmate rejected him without a hint of hesitation.

It didn't take long to find a library where he fixed up his hair, tried to look like a a college student instead of a transient, before slipping inside. Finding a computer on the far side of a row, he tucked his bag against his feet and pulled up his email so he could start the long, arduous task of telling his mother what happened. It took a while for her to accept his choice in leaving home and the possibility of a job, but they talked regularly now, if only by email. Keeping a phone cost too much and Shinya couldn't deal with the commitment of it. And yet, this was a strange moment where he craved that face to face quality like his mother's voice might actually make this okay again.

He honestly wasn't sure where to go from here. He didn't want to give up on Antoni--he was pretty sure he couldn't if he tried. But what could he do? Trying to talk to him at the guy's home would likely end up in disaster. Shinya could stalk him of course, but the thought left him with a shaky laugh. How that was different from what he did the last five years, he didn't know, but it sounded desperate. Yet, a part of him thought that if he could just shake Antoni's hand, all of this would get better. No more denial, no more being pushed away. They could live happily and that was everything that Shinya needed right now.

The workout really ended up being the exact thing he needed, which perhaps shouldn't surprise him. But he was able to shut down and stop thinking for awhile. No worrying about the book. No worrying about the thread around his finger. No hope curled warm and dangerous in his chest. It was just the perfect distraction from everything.

He probably stayed at the gym longer than he should have. Muscles pushed past comfortably sore into mildly aching, but he hadn't wanted to stop. Didn't want to go back to staring hopelessly at his computer screen. But he had to leave eventually, and while he was stupid enough to push slightly too far; he wasn't going to injure himself.

Once he was done working out, he didn't bother staying too long at the gym, having no interest in using the public showers, which always left him feeling just as grimy as sweating during his workout did. So he grabbed his bag from the locker room and headed out, pushing his sweat soaked hair of his face as we went to walk home, using the walk to double as a way to cool down his body and maybe ease out some of the ache in his muscles. The path took him past the local library and though his eyes wondered over the building, it wasn't like he was going to stop, even if something in him almost wanted to that day. Some part of him that felt dark and dim, like the hope shining through his chest like a glowing string.

It took even longer than Shinya expected for him to finish the email, realizing that by the end, he'd written a full page of text. Despite the fact that he didn't want to talk about it, once he started typing, it started to flow and flow, all of the feelings inside of him as well as the last couple adventures he'd gotten involved in since entering New Jersey. His mom would like that part at least. He'd done a lot of amazing things in his travels, so even if nothing came of the journey, he wouldn't consider it wasted time.

As he pushed open the heavy doors of the library to breathe in the fresh air once again, he felt a sharp tug on his heart strings. Shinya's gaze snapped to the side, landing on the face of a single person walking past. Antoni. He sucked in his breath, almost surprised he hadn't noticed the pull sooner. He'd been planning on walking straight to a temp job center, but all of that flew out of his mind as he bounded down the library steps toward the other man.

"Hey! It's fate that we meet again so soon!" His voice reverberated with pure optimism and a brightness that didn't match the anxiety curling in his gut. But hey, he still believed things would work out. He just needed to keep pushing through, like always.

"What the--?" Antoni startled, stepping back from the bright voice. He squinted at the man before him, recognizing him immediately but not quite sure he believed this was actually happen. "Are you like--actually--stalking me?' he asked, taking another step back as he spoke, prepared to flee at the slightest thing. He did not want to deal with this right now. Or ever.

"Like, I get it your a fan or whatever. You think I'm your next great love story. But I'm not, and I will get a restraining order." he said, with each word making sure a certain distance between them was carefully maintained. Not trusting the Asian man in the slightest. "So really, I'd stop if I were you."

Shinya grit his teeth and bounded the rest of the distance between them. "Hey, listen to me! I'm not going to give this up until I can at least prove that I'm not crazy!" he exclaimed. He hadn't been stalking Antoni, but hell if he would let this chance pass him by. It happened for a reason and the faint tug along his pinky finger said as much. Steeling himself for whatever backlash he might receive, he dived forward to grab Antoni's hand, grasping it right so the other man couldn't pull away. "We are soulmates and I wasn't stalking you. This was fate!" Staring into Antoni's eyes, he let every ounce of that determination show through. Even if he was shoved away a second later, he would keep pushing through. He'd already gotten this far, hadn't he?

Antoni stumbled at the sudden grab at him, unable to get away before his hand was clutched into the other male's and suddenly his vision was filled with a bright flare of red, the light consuming his entire range of vision for a second as he jerked his eyes toward the linked hands.

Once it settled and cleared, there it was, a completed string, growing bright and strong between their two hands and the slightest marking on his finger where the string tied, the scarring that indicated a tied bond. Antoni floundered for several seconds, frozen as he just stared and stared. And it was like the more he stared at the string, the brighter it glowed, entire body feeling almost hot from his concentration on it and from their still linked hands.

He swayed slightly, how could this really be happening. He ripped his hands from Shinya's and stared at the string that didn't stop glowing like wildfire between them. "No." he said, and took that other step back, "There's no way." he muttered; his eyes entranced. He looked up at Shinya. "There's no way."

A quiet settled over Shinya, awed and reverent. A tingle traveled up his arm from where his fingers grasped Antoni's. It was only when the other man pulled is hand away that the moment broke and the bright red of the string stopped filling his vision. Shinya settled his gaze on Antoni's face, watching the emotions clearly displayed there. He didn't believe this, even in the face of such an obvious display, or he didn't want to. Shinya just let a dopey smile cross his face as he glanced down to his pinky and the newly formed knot there. "I told you that I wasn't crazy. I didn't stalk you because of your books; I didn't even read them until after I left my home town. I followed the string's pull right to you. Get it now?" After the awed moment, he couldn't bring himself to raise his voice and instead implored Antoni with his eyes to accept this. To accept their happily ever after now.

"You followed the string's pull..." Antoni murmured, trying to process the words of the man before him, but unable to pull his eyes away from the string. Still sure that there was no way possible. It wasn't that he couldn't believe he'd found his tie. It just seemed to easy--to--well-- like one of his novels. A drifter shows up on the doorstep, proclaiming their mates. Proclaiming he'd followed the minutest tugs of a string only they could see? That didn't happen to people like Antoni. It just didn't.

And yet even as he thought this that hope was beating fast and hard in his breast. Threatening to overwhelm him, to make this simple and easy. To make him accept this other man and live some version of a happily ever after. It grew and soared and beat at his chest, pushing logic and reason to the side. A dangerous high that could only be brought crashing down.

He ripped his eyes away from the string, determined not to see it. "I don't-- I can't. I need to call Jodi." he said, and then he fled. He needed to be away from this. He needed out. He needed this to not be real....

He needed it to be real and true and magic. And yet he couldn't believe.