davidhatter

[davidhatter]

@justkeepdancing-nemo

Hatter had a bit of an idea as to what an anime was. He knew the general concept, but it wasn't as if he had ever sat down to watch one. Sam, as previously mentioned, was a large fan of many things that people had once considered embarrassing to enjoy to openly– anime being one of them.

So, to Hatter, all Nemo had really said was that he had watched a television show that involved volleyball and then went to try it out in real life. That seemed perfectly normal to him, thinking it was the same as him watching an old Julia Child re-run and then getting up to go make the recipe she'd just showcased.

"Do you travel for it? Or is there a rec league at the uni?" he asked, trying to get more of an understanding of what the set up was. Was it organized? Or was it just like those pick up games of football he saw happening in the park, where anyone with a pair of boots and a desire to play could hop in.

Help! I'm Trapped With My Dad's Socially Awkward Boyfriend! || Natter

[davidhatter]

@baenxietydad

Hatter didn't doubt it. He had once been like any other adolescent idiot in the world who thought the end of all things started at the age of 25 and that the elderly were boring and stuffy. Then he had become friends with a great deal of older women and saw that while they could most definitely be boring and stuffy, they were still people and had a lot more to offer than he did. Even now that he was substantially older, he still thought this to be true.

It was bittersweet to hear Mr. Bae explain his feelings. They were complicated and there was nothing Hatter could do to make him feel better about the matter, so he just leaned his shoulder a little bit closer to Mr. Bae to indicate he was present and more than willing to hold the heavy emotions he was talking about with him.

Spring Cleaned || Hatfish

[davidhatter]

@baenxietydad

Hatter's brow furrowed further as he seemed to look at Mr. Bae harder, trying to figure out what he was seeing that apparently even the blood relatives couldn't. Or maybe that was why he could see it? Because he wasn't related? Ah well. Unlike the Bae's, Hatter wasn't the die on the hill sort of person, and wouldn't go to bat for such an argument.

He looked down at the new picture, too busy taking in the people and facial expressions to have noticed the terrain until Mr. Bae said what he did. That was a daunting realization, to the already daunting task that the trip itself would be, but Hatter wasn't someone who complained so. It would be what it would be.

"I'll cherish them while I still can."

Spring Cleaned || Hatfish

[davidhatter]

@justkeepdancing-nemo

He gave a nod, both to know he was listening and in a silent agreement. That sort of attitude, Hatter could understand when it came to the likes of competition and athletics. But then, Hatter didn't really have much passion in the way of things of that nature. He wasn't a fan in the way the word had originally been fashioned– he wasn't a fanatic of anything. He had never liked anything so much that he dedicated a piece of himself to it.

Those parts of him had been put elsewhere, his time devoted to working or to his siblings. There had been nothing to spare for anything else. And then when they left, he didn't branch out to try to find anything like that, too set in a routine to notice.

He admired other people for this trait that he didn't understand, like Mr. Bae having so much knowledge on his favorite band, or how the things his little brother had enjoyed having gotten him bullied while he was in school but Sam had continued to cling to them despite that– and how now it wasn't considered weird to like those board games or card games at all.

"How'd you get into volleyball?" he asked.

Help! I'm Trapped With My Dad's Socially Awkward Boyfriend! || Natter

[davidhatter]

@baenxietydad

Hatter appreciated this thought, because it was true. He had often wondered what she looked like, but thought asking would be trying to step too far, or dredging up more pain than the daily dose that Mr. Bae already experienced.

It was different than if Mr. Bae would ever ask if Hatter had any pictures of his mother, of which he wouldn't mind showing him. Despite all the conversions they'd had about So-yeon, Hatter didn't think it was his place to bring her up.

"What?" he asked, both confused and amused by Mr. Bae's assessment of his and his son's visage. "No– I think there's plenty of both of you there."

Spring Cleaned || Hatfish

[davidhatter]

@baenxietydad

He frowned a little hearing that, knowing that it made sense but would have liked to believe that one of them would have made the effort to find him somehow. It would have drove Hatter to insanity if one of his friends had gone through something that horrific and then disappeared, never to be seen again. He would have had to known what happened, if they were or weren't alright.

He didn't say this, though, not wanting Mr. Bae to think he thought poorly of his friends. After all, he had never been put in that position, so he couldn't actually say what he would have done had he been one of them.

Instead he focused his attention on the photos that Mr. Bae went through and the story that accompanied them. His eyes drifted from the picture of a younger Mr. Bae to the present one, who sat there on the sofa with him, and who laughed quietly at the memories that were no doubt being pulled up. Hatter caught a glimmer of the emotion that came to the surface but looked away, back to the photos, not wanting to stare for some reason he couldn't quite figure out. But then, he didn't put any effort into trying either.

Spring Cleaned || Hatfish

[davidhatter]

A kitchen is a research lab for new ways to say I love you

[davidhatter]

@justkeepdancing-nemo

He shook his head because to Hatter being big into sports meant being like his brother in law, someone who followed a team and bought their merchandise and knew all the players and the staff. It meant someone who was going to live or die by their club, even if they'd had horrible season after horrible season. Someone who never missed a match and if they did, they drowned out any news of the results until they could watch it.

Hatter was not dedicated to sports in such a way. He could understand why it was such a big deal on a small scale. Kids losing games seemed heartbreaking. It was when it went to such a massive scale, professional leagues and the like with people going on rampages after matches or getting into fights with other fans of opposing teams in pubs. That had him scratching his head and wondering what the big deal was. It couldn't be all that dire that people felt the need to go mental over a loss.

"Not in that way, but I'll watch whatever's on. Or listen to it. You know Ramirez, I'm sure, she had me watching the Magick Grand Prix since she was a wee one and her order was still a frozen hot chocolate with cinnamon. And my brother in law is a Liverpool fan, so, I keep up with that to know his mental state," he admitted. "How's your season going?"

Help! I'm Trapped With My Dad's Socially Awkward Boyfriend! || Natter

[davidhatter]

@julicta

Hatter had been bringing the mug up to his lips and paused at her first question, eyes lifting to look at her for a moment before going ahead and taking a sip of the still too hot, not steeped enough, water because blimey. This was not at all what he had thought this was going to be about.

Magic? Feelings?

And then as soon as she expressed that she was feeling some sort of disconnect with her magic he sobered up. He needed to take his seriously, not just dismiss it because he didn't think he was the right audience– she had come to him for a reason. Probably. Hopefully.

He set his mug down and sat back a little, trying to think of how best to answer her. It was difficult, both because he, in particular, wasn't a very talkative person to begin with so words weren't an easy thing to navigate for him and also because magic was hard to describe in the first place.

"I don't know that I've ever felt anything in the way you're describing. That seems– physical, like when the magic drain was going on, rather than...well, when I was younger I had no idea what I wanted to study as far as a specialty went. Didn't really have the time for it, either. I was disconnected mentally, I suppose," he said, furrowing his brows at himself as had never taken the time to reflect on this. "Erm, and then when I did decide on kitchen witchery, it was because I thought it was the easiest thing I could do. Which turned out to be wrong, obviously. I don't have to tell you that. And even then, people don't really look at someone like me and think I'm a Kitchen Witch. So when I would tell them their reactions would make me think I wasn't either.

"To connect with it, though, I suppose I just go back to the basics? Do something I know. Make a recipe that I've done a hundred times over. And when I mean basics, I mean basics. I'll collect the reagents I don't normally have to since I've made it so many times and put them in there instead of relying on raw magic. I dunno– helps me remember where I started and how far I've come." He let out a little puff of air, "And how far I've still got to go."

He paused a moment, then nodded toward her, "How long has this been going on?"

Tea and Honey and All Those Other Ingredients || Hatter & Juli

[davidhatter]

@baenxietydad

It felt like that to Hatter, too, but that was much easier since Hatter hadn't known him that long ago. Couldn't have. And, given the description of how Mr. Bae used to live, probably wouldn't have. Which was...not fine necessarily, but understandable.

His eyes followed Mr. Bae's finger as he pointed at people in the photograph, taking the time it took to describe them to linger on their captured image and commit name to face. It had always been one thing to hear about these people, about Mr. Bae's life and stories that involved the names being said and the places where they happened. It was another thing entirely to see them. It made them that much more real.

"I'm sure they understood why," he said. "Did anyone ever reach out to you?"

Spring Cleaned || Hatfish

[davidhatter]

@justkeepdancing-nemo

Is that what that was called. Computer Science? Hatter let out a little huff of amused air, nodding in agreement. Obviously. All he had was a landline as far as phones went and had been using the same computer for...hell, he didn't know. Ages at this point. It functioned for what he needed it for, and he was perfectly content to keep the routine of it.

As much as he probably knew it would be best if he learned all the new technology that he saw popping up, he felt like it was already too late. Since he hadn't gotten on the train at the beginning, it was now so far away and going faster than ever before that it seemed impossible to catch up now. He'd gotten by this long without it, he figured there wasn't much he was missing out on.

"Sounds like it," he nodded, only a little surprised that a class could encompass that much within it. Those topics seemed much larger than what a lecture could offer in the allotted time. "And are you in any of the clubs they've got there? Or does work and regular schooling take up most of your time?"

Help! I'm Trapped With My Dad's Socially Awkward Boyfriend! || Natter

[davidhatter]

@baenxietydad

Hatter listened as he always did, with an earnest interest. Both for the way in which Mr. Bae explained things and, in this case, for getting to hear more about Mr. Bae's past. Even if it was mostly regarding food (which he was not complaining about in the slightest), it offered a glimpse into the life he had lived.

Which was different than the one now, for a great deal of reasons, but it wasn't as if Swynlake had things like a kalguksu-jip. It wasn't big enough to hide those sorts of things. Even considering [NAME REDACTED], that was just a coffee shoppe, wasn't it?

"2001," he repeated, still looking at the photograph. "Hard to believe that much time has gone by."

Spring Cleaned || Hatfish

[davidhatter]

@justkeepdancing-nemo

This was good to hear, though he wouldn't exactly expect the kid to confess to him, of all people, that he'd thought it was a waste of his time. But he did sound as though he enjoying it– the experience and the education. Which was something even he would forget about, that uni wasn't just a place to go learn things, it was a potentially stepping stone for people. Able to have a structure like they were used to but also give them more freedom than they were maybe used to having in their lives.

He did not clock the blush, since he wasn't staring Nemo down, nor did he really pick up on any amount of awkwardness that may have entered Nemo's tone. It went over his head. But, then, so did the potential meaning behind Nemo's words.

Instead he hummed and nodded, like he understood what Nemo meant, when really he only understood what he thought the kid meant.

"My brother took a lot of classes outside of what they suggested he take. I remember he was in something where they went really into depth on stuff he could do on the computer. Which was helpful, since we didn't have one at home and he really only used one at the library or at his friends' houses," he said. "Though, these days, I don't know that they offer that sort of thing anymore since kids are growing up with them in their pockets."

Help! I'm Trapped With My Dad's Socially Awkward Boyfriend! || Natter

[davidhatter]

@baenxietydad

Hatter looked up from the notebook and blinked at the sound of those years. Good lord. At one point in his life the new century had been such a big to-do and those years had become milestones he based the passage of time off of. The sort that made him think, oh yeah that was only 3 years ago only to realize it had actually been 5.

Now, here they were, 25 years passed it.

He shook himself away from that thought and turned to see the picture Mr. Bae was holding. At first, all he could focus on was the man himself before he shifted to taking in the visage of his late wife. It was the first time he had any indication of what she looked like, and it was a bit jarring, but he remained as he was rather than trying to take the picture from Mr. Bae's hand to get a closer look.

And because he was who he was, he couldn't help but to squint, and point a finger to hover over the picture and ask, "What're you eating?"

Spring Cleaned || Hatfish

[davidhatter]

@baenxietydad

"Adjective day," he repeated, wanting to know what such a phrase felt like to say. Maybe the way Mr. Bae spoke and chose to word things wasn't unique to other people, but Hatter always found those little things to be very amusing and interesting.

He eyed the long list of description words and their counterparts next to them, taking a touch longer here since it was helpful to him, too. Not that he was going to memorize anything right now, but any bit of exposure was worth something.

Again, he turned the page.

Spring Cleaned || Hatfish

[davidhatter]

@justkeepdancing-nemo

Hatter nodded. Yes, he had. He spoke quite a bit about his son's schooling. The financial aspect, of course, but the other parts of it as well. He was in no place to judge and, honestly, he didn't really see university as anything all that special. To him, someone didn't need a degree to be intelligent or remarkable or accomplished or whatever it was. But he knew society did, so, he had sent his siblings off to it so they could do what they wanted in life. And he was trying to help Mr. Bae do the same.

He didn't really care how people went about their life, so long as they weren't hurting anyone and were doing what they wished, what did it matter?

"That's smart," he said, not really thinking anything of it since he had been in conversations with those that worked at the tea shoppe over their schedules many-a-time that ended with him suggesting they take less hours. It usually kept the amount of times he found someone weeping in the back of the kitchen to a minimum.

"Are you enjoying it?" Hatter asked.

Help! I'm Trapped With My Dad's Socially Awkward Boyfriend! || Natter

[davidhatter]

@baenxietydad

Hatter listened and could not help thinking the same thought that cropped up over and over again the longer he knew Mr. Bae and heard things like this, or the more he tried to learn Korean– English was a very strange language. And this was coming from a man who had been speaking it and listening to it his whole life.

Sure, he had been frustrated by it in school when learning grammar and spelling, but he'd been out of a class room for ages now and hardly ever noticed things like that. Until now, when someone was once again pointing the oddities out.

He looked down at the page and his admiration for the man beside him grew even more at the sight of it. Hatter would hardly think about doing something like this when listening to music, yet Mr. Bae had turned a song into a learning opportunity. His eyes turned this look of awe onto Mr. Bae for a moment before turning back to the notebook and turning the page over again.

Spring Cleaned || Hatfish