Stolen [reserved for Chase and Ari]

Chase sighed as he flopped down in one of the library's host of easy chairs. The only true quiet time he had nowadays was occupied by either work or his family, growing by the millisecond along with his responsibilities. For an hour, he had stolen away to find some time for himself. And, being the utter nerd that he was, he found himself gravitating towards the library.

He was instantly comfortable within the walls lined with books. He grabbed one from the classics section, only vaguely registering the title - it didn't really matter which one it was, anything would do - and opened up to the beginning page. But sleep was as rare as his free time as of late, and it didn't take long for his eyes to start shutting against his will. Soon, he was asleep.

Ari found himself in the library, a familiar place to him. He liked the library, or maybe he just liked the old smell of books. He probably just liked books and the library, but who was keeping track? He was moving in and out of the vast aisles and scanning the titles of books that he had read, sure there were some familiar and others not. But he actually came across a familiar face—was that Chase? He squinted his eyes to get a better view of the man. He then hummed and nodded to himself, “Yup. It’s Chase.” He spoke to himself, “And he’s sleeping.” He chuckled under his breath as he moved towards the other male.

Quietly, Ari nudged his companion, “Chase?” He questioned, “If you want to sleep, you should probably go home.” He laughed.

Chase startled awake, looking around the library, confused. "What?" he said, rubbing his eyes with the back of the hand that wasn't holding a book. He looked down at that, too. "'In Search of Lost Time'," he read out loud, and then he remembered. He glanced at Ari with a sheepish look on his face. "Whoops. How embarrassing. A book hasn't put me to sleep since ninth grade." He stood up and stretched, setting the book down on the chair as he faced Ari.

"And home isn't exactly the best place for sleep, either," he added, shaking his head. His glasses slid down his nose, and he absently pushed them back up as he said, "Married life is hard. Enjoyable, and worth it, but it's not easy." With an easy smile, he sat back down, and motioned to an empty chair nearby. He was still sleepy, but managed to put that far enough past him to muster conversational skills. "How are you, Ari?"

Ari merely just stood there, watching his companion slowly wake up. His brow perked up as Chase read the title aloud, “I don’t blame you. Sounds a bit boring.” He chuckled weakly. But he continued to listen to Chase explain himself, “I see.” He nodded, “As long as you’re happy, it’s worth it and you’ll be able to handle it.” He told him. “Me?” He restated the question in his own word—Ari could only shrug, “I don’t know. I find myself confused.” He spoke as he took the chair offered to him. “I don’t suppose you can offer an old bachelor some advice.” He let out another nervous chuckle.