Title: Five Times Nanamine Was A Manipulative Bastard (and One Time It Didn't Go As Planned)
Series: Bakuman
Pairing/Characters: Nanamine/Kosugi, Kosugi/Nanamine with lots of cameos
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Humor
Length: 2069 words, one-shot
Warnings: Slash | Nanamine being Nanamine
Notes: I'm madly in love with this pairing. Also, I don't own Bakuman.
Five Times Nanamine Was A Manipulative Bastard (and One Time It Didn't Go As Planned)
One
"Ahhhh, the way you draw action lines is so amazing! Are the rumors about you true?", Nanamine said loud enough to hear through the door.
"Yeah, I can draw anything without any references", a low voice which must have belonged to the the background assistant answered.
Although he knew it wasn't polite, Kusogi couldn't help but listen silently to the conversation in the hallway. As his editor he wanted to make sure about Nanamine, so he felt his act of eavesdropping justified.
"Uwaaaa! I can't believe Aoki-sensei refused you in the past, your technique is incredible! I really want to grow up and become such a respectable man just like you, I respect you so much! That would totally like be like a dream come true!"
Seems like the boy had a of lot of futile dreams, Kosugi couldn't remember how often he had already heard that sentence in the last few days.
"You're so much more talented than all the other assistants working for Jump projects that I've met so far! I really don't like Aoki-sensei's new helper Hiramaru-san. I heard him badmouthing about her former assistant whom he called 'talentless fatso.'"
Nanamine's overly excited monologue was interrupted by a loud "I'm so going to kill him!", followed by a corpulent man bursting out of the apartment.
Kosugi had a bad feeling the next day, when he heard that someone had demolished Hiramaru's expensive sports car that night.
Two
Kosugi panted under the heavy weight, his bag was loaded with Jump magazines that he had carried all the way to Nanamine's house. The boy had insisted on borrowing those specific issues from Shueisha's archive, claiming that he wouldn't be able to continue working otherwise.
Although it was Kosugi's first time working so closely with a mangaka, he coud tell for sure that Nanamine had done his research. It was hard to refuse any of his requests, the boy had the habit of reminding him that the editor's future was in his hands, since he could just submit his works to another publisher.
When he was about to push the doorbell the door opened by itself, making the editor startle at the sight that greeted him.
Nanamine was only covered by a tank top and a pair of pajama shorts, as he gestured to enter. "I was waiting for you, Kosugi-san! Did you bring those issues that I mentioned?"
"Yes, all twenty of them."
"Really? Uwaaaaaa, I'm so happy you came all the way! I really appreciate it, thank you so much!" The boy gave Kosugi a big smile, bright enough to catch him off-guard for a second as he followed the boy across the huge entrance hall before he stopped in front of a door.
"This is my room," he gestured and gave the editor an approving smile after mustering his bag, "Great, that should be heavy enough!"
"Heavy enough?" Kosugi was confused, what did the weight have anything to do with his work?
"There's a huge spider under my bed, please get rid of it!" Startled by the puzzled look on Kosugi's face, he added sneeringly, "Eliminate that imbecile with the equipment you've brought here, obviously. I have some online auctioning to do, buying some games can really be a pain. Good luck, leave when you're done. "
Only then the editor realized that every single issue featured PCP on its cover.
Three
No matter how manipulative the young mangaka was, the fact that he worked hard as both an aspiring mangaka and a pizza delivery boy was undeniable, Kosugi nodded to himself when he entered the mangaka's apartment for another meeting.
While he didn't agree with the methods used, that did make him a feel a bit more sympathetic towards Nanamine, who was talking chirpily into his cell phone.
"Hello? Here is Tooru~!. Wahh, I'm really sorry that I'm calling so late, but I don't think I can make it. I'm still in bed with fever and my throat hurts. It would be so amazing if you'd help-" He started coughing loudly mid-sentence.
Noticing the other man's presence, the boy wheeled his executive armchair around to beam a glare across the room.
"Yaaa! Thank you so much for taking over my pizza delivering shift! I know I was stupid to catch a cold in summer, I'm really so sorry for troubling you again! I won't be a burden to you again!"
That cough and the conversation would have been very convincing... if Nanamine didn't have a giant ice cream cone in his hand, that is.
"For a speedy recovery, I recommend porridge instead of strawberry ice cream." Kosugi cleared his throat and forced a smile. He wanted to slap himself for believing that boy was working hard.
"Rejected," Nanamine said bluntly, "By the way, it's rose-flavored ice cream. Too bad, you came too late today, this is my last scoop. I had one for you prepared, but I accidentally dropped it on something I was working on."
In a swift movement, he slid his chair across the floor towards the editor, holding out the cone. "You can have a lick of mine, Kosugi-san".
The pink scoop was so close to his face that he could smell the intense scent of rose petals. It was hard to resist, but he quickly turned away as he felt his cheeks turning pinker than the scoop.
"N-no, thanks."
"Uwaa, your face is so red. Are you sick or something?" The boy brought his eyebrows together in concern. "Go home for today, it's not like your ideas are of any use to me anyway, 51st person."
Kosugi wasn't sure whether he should feel happy or offended.
Four
Upon entering the Editorial Department office of Jump, Kosugi couldn't help but notice there was something wrong with Ashirogi Muto's editor. Usually known to be the most collected among the editors, Hattori Akira was talking in a heated tone with someone through the phone until he hung up with a sigh.
"Is everything all right, Hattori-san?" For the three months he had been working at Jump, this was the first time Kosugi saw him like this.
"Ashirogi Muto got in a brawl and now Takagi moved out again which is why I just had to calm down his wife and Moritaka," Hattori shook his head in frustration, "I can't believe it started because of a fan letter, they both really have to understand not to take that kind of criticism personally. Here take a look."
Kusogi's eyes widened when he brought the letter closer to his face. There was a pink stain that smelled suspiciously like roses.
At least, he didn't just eat ice cream the other day.
Five
"Dear everyone (especially Executive Editor Sasaki-san), An anonymous fan sent me a copy of the sold out game Crow Hunter. I have some leveling up to do. Please don't look for me.
-Niizuma Eiji"
+One
Nanamine Tooru twirled a lock of auburn hair around his long fingers, the face deep in thought as he looked through the name.
This was the first time Jump editor Kosugi found himself staring so intensely at the boy during one of their meetings. There was no doubt everyone would assume that the person opposite of the table was an adorable but naive teenager, who was engrossed in his efforts of making it big as a mangaka.
Sometimes he wanted to believe that, too.
Here they were, sitting silently in Nanamine's room at the workplace apartment, where he was waiting for Nanamine to finish reading his plot suggestions for the upcoming chapters.
Although he tried to focus his view on the fancily equipped desk, Kosugi's eyes were still drawn to the auburn-haired boy. Nanamine had not said anything so far and he decided that it was a good sign, because the last meeting was immediately concluded after Nanamine had rejected every single plot input by the editor.
"Kosugi-san."
He was envied by the other editors that belonged to his unit for supervising such a prodigy, but would the other's still envy him after getting to know the other boy like he did?
"Kosugi-san, are you listening? Can I have a look at your glasses?" He startled at the sudden break of silence and felt guilty for not paying enough attention when the boy gave him a pout.
"Why?"
"Drawing reference"
While his opinion as an editor were of no use, at least Nanamine needed his glasses. It was definitely better than nothing. Not being able to think of a counter-argument, he handed them over.
It's not like something could go wro...
"Ahhhhhh! My hand slipped and they fell out of the window!" The young mangaka screamed, before Kosugi could even finish his mental sentence. How the hell did the glasses fly five meters across the room, accidentally out of the window?
Bearing an apologetic look upon his face with his hands put together, he said, "I'm really extremely sorry, Kusogi-san."
Kusogi-san? Yeah, right. Why bother adding the '-san' when his opinion was never respected or counted anyway? He tried to calm down by telling himself that it really was an accident, but he could feel his face redden in anger.
"I was so careless, please don't be angry with me! I'm so ashamed of causing you so much trouble! I'm really sorry!"
Having heard those words too often to take them seriously, he couldn't stop his hands from trembling with anger as he stood up.
"I hope you'll be able to forgive me! How can I make this up to you?"
In this moment, it didn't matter that the boy was taller and maybe stronger than him. His body reacted on its own.
In a jerky motion he grabbed Nanamine's forearm, pulling him towards his body. He could feel the other's pulse as he tightened his grip around the wrist, a warm shallow breath tingling against his skin. Their faces being less than an inch away from each other, it was close enough to make out the boy's widened brown eyes and his trembling lips without his glasses.
Before any other word could escape from their mouths, Kusogi leaned forward and pressed his lips tightly against Nanamine's in a kiss. It was clumsy, bruising and messy, but it didn't matter to either of them. Immediately upon realizing what he had done, the older one loosened his grip and tried to pull away when the boy's hands cupped his face and captured him in another kiss.
By the time they pulled apart, both of them were gasping for air. Kusogi fumbled for words, trying to explain what had happened, when the boy opened his mouth in a big grin.
"Uwaa, that went a bit differently than planned," Nanamine ran a hand through his auburn hair, looking a bit embarrassed, "Who would think you'd get angry like that out of nowhere?"
"Was throwing out my glasses also part of your plan?"
"I didn't want you to look like PCP's main character with those dark frames of yours," he admitted sneeringly, "It would have totally creeped me out if you kissed me like that!"
"Wait, you were sure I was going to kiss you?" Kosugi asked, his expression completely dumbfounded. Somewhere, in the back of his mind, he had already figured out the answer.
"Of course! According to my plan, I'd pretend to cry for being so sorry after getting rid of your glasses and then you'd take advantage of that vulnerable moment!"
"Just tell the other people honestly what you want, you don't have to resort to manipulation", the editor sighed, shaking his head in resignation, "Promise me, you're going to do that from now on?"
"Okay, I'll give it a try then", Nanamine cleared his throat as a crimson flush spread to his ears, "I want you, Kosugi-san. Please be mine!"
The following day, Sasaki heard for the first time in his career as Executive Editor that both mangaka and assigned editor needed some time off to do an urgent research in the Boys' Love department of the publishing company. Seeing their enthusiastic faces, it was apparently very relevant to the future of Jump and he couldn't help but approve their leave of absence. It's not like it would make such a huge difference with Crow and PCP already on hiatus.
The End